A resident of the Tajik southern city of Qurghon Teppa, Nasimjon Sobirjonov, has been detained for swindling relatives of the so-called “false prophet” Saidmahdikhon Sattorov, who is also known as Sheikh Temur, out of 20,000 U.S. dollars.
Nasimjon Sobirjonov reportedly promised them to put the name of jailed Saidmahdikhon Sattorov on the list of people subject to amnesty. For this, he demanded 20,000 U.S. dollars from them. But when he received the money he disappeared.
“Sattorov’s daughter has applied to police and Sobirjonov has recently been detained in Khujand,” Umarjon Emomali, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
Recall, the 67-year-old Saidmahdikhon Sattorov, also known as Sheikh Temur, was sentenced to 16 years in jail earlier on July 8, 2015. The sentenced followed his conviction on charges of ‘illegal land grabbing’, ‘polygamy’, ‘extortion’, ‘desecration of the dead and their burial places’, and ‘obstruction the obtainment of compulsory basic education’.
Sattorov, who attracted hundreds of feet-kissing followers to his cause, claimed to be the ‘Last Prophet’, a title often reserved for the Prophet Muhammad in the Islamic religion.
In the hearings that followed Temur’s arrest in February, the sheikh admitted he has more than one wife, built illegally on lands he did not own, and did not allow his children to attend a school. He requested compassion and mercy for his “old age.”
