DUSHANBE, July 31, 2015, Asia-Plus — Many Tajiks who were recruited to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) militant group are returning home, Tajik Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon told reporters in Dushanbe on July 31.
“On July 30, two our citizens returned from there,” Tajik chief prosecutor said.
“The Tajik law enforcement authorities have instituted criminal proceedings against Tajik nationals fighting alongside IS militants in Syria and Iraq,” Yusuf Rahmon noted.
According to him, the Tajik authorities have blocked more than 2,000 extremist websites, “and work in this direction is going on.”
According to data of the Prosecutor-General’s Office, in July alone, almost 50 Tajik nationals were killed fighting for the IS militant group.
“There are between 30 and 40 Tajik women following their husbands to Syria and Iraq. No criminal proceedings will be instituted against them and their children if they did not fight there,” Rahmon noted.
Tajik chief prosecutor said that he on July 30 received Tajik woman, who stayed in Syria together with her husband for a year. “She fled Syria through Turkey after he husband died of wounds sustained in battle,” said the prosecutor. “According to her, her husband was fighting alongside the IS militants and he was receiving only 100 U.S. dollars per month for that. She says nobody provided assistance to him after he was wounded. As a result, he died and she fled Syria through Turkey and Tajik diplomats helped her return home.”
We will recall that Tajikistan”s official media sources have launched an “information war” against ISIL, pushing back against the group”s propaganda by publishing reports about its gory killings, enslavement of women, and other abuses. The “information war” is the latest in a series of tactics that Tajikistan has adopted in an attempt to combat recruitment to IS and avoid blowback from returning fighters, including declaring it a banned terror group and revoking the citizenship of Tajiks who fight abroad.
According to data of the Interior Ministry, 519 Tajiks are fighting alongside the IS militant group; 150 Tajik citizens have been killed in Syria and Iraq and 35 have returned home.
