DUSHANBE, May 11, 2015, Asia-Plus – The Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office has begun to examine a complaint lodged by the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) against law enforcement officers and local authorities persecuting it without any grounds.
An official source at the Prosecutor-General’s Office says the complaint has been sent for examination to the prosecutor’s office in the city of Isfara as well as the districts of Kuhistoni Mastchoh and Farkhor.
We will recall that the IRP board last month sent a letter to the Prosecutor-General’s Office asking to take adequate measures against law enforcement officers and local authorities committing infringements against members of the IRP and to protect their constitutional rights.
The letter, in particular, notes that IRP activists and members of their families have undergone persecutions in recent years and some of them even have undergone tortures.
In the letter, the IRP board describes dozens of instances of persecution, torment and insulting of members of the IRP and their relatives.
The IRP board sent similar letters the Interior Ministry, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) and Tajik Ombudsman’s Office as well.
The Islamic Revival Party suffered a crushing election defeat, garnering a mere 1.5 percent in Tajikistan”s March 1 vote, leaving the country”s second-largest party with no seats in parliament for the first time in 15 years.
Imams at several mosques across Tajikistan last month urged Muslims to support the closure of the Islamic Revival Party, calling for a referendum to dissolve the only officially registered Islamic party in former Soviet Central Asia. A letter distributed to imams before Friday Prayers on March 27 said that dissolving the party would help Tajikistan “”avoid the fate of other nations where Islamic extremists are disrupting peace and order.” The letter is believed to have been circulated by a state-backed Islamic center that often sends imams recommended texts for sermons.
Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party officially registered in former Soviet Central Asia. The IRP was registered on December 4, 1991. It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999. Its official newspaper is
Najot
(Salvation). According to some source, the IRP now has some 50,000 members.
Since 1999, the party has reportedly been the second-largest party in Tajikistan after the ruling People”s Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
In the 2005 and 2010 parliamentary elections, the IRP won two out of 63 seats in the parliament, but in recent parliamentary polls the party failed to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliament seats.
The party leaders said the elections were not fair and alleged fraud in vote-counting.
