Saidmurod Halimov, the brother of Gulmurod Halimov, the fugitive Tajik police colonel who joined the Islamic State (IS) terror group three years, has resigned from his post at the Main Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Tajikistan.
An official source at a MoJ says Lieutenant-Colonel Saidmurod Halimov resigned more than two months ago because several his close relatives are serving their jail terms for terrorism-related charges.
Saidmurod Halimov is currently unemployed.
Meanwhile, an official at the Ministry of Justice told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service on March 5 that after the sentencing of his relatives, “it became legally impossible for Saidmurod Halimov to continue working" at the department overseeing prisons.
"According to law, an employee can no longer work at this agency if they have a relative in prison," said the official who requested anonymity.
Saidmurod Halimov first submitted his resignation in 2015, when his brother Gulmurod Halimov joined the IS terror group.
However, his resignation was rejected, with Tajik authorities saying they were satisfied with Saidmurod Halimov's performance and that he shouldn't be held responsible for his brother's actions, according to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.
Recall, the Khatlon regional court in late October last year sentenced Halimov’s younger brothers, Komil and Nazir, and his nephew Ali to jail terms ranging from seven to 18 years on charges including attempting to join IS terror group and trying to illegally cross the border.
They were arrested in July 2017 when they were allegedly trying to cross into neighboring Afghanistan to fight as mercenaries there. They were reportedly detained in a police operation that killed four other members of Halimov's extended family.
In a separate case, Gulmurod Halimov's eldest son, Behrouz, was arrested in April 2017 and charged with attempting to join a foreign militant group. The Dushanbe city court sentenced him to ten years in prison in June 2017. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of preparation for crime or criminal attempt (Article 32 of Tajikistan’s Penal Court) and mercenary activities (Article 401 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code). Behrouz Halimov is serving his term in a high-security penal colony.
Gulmurod Halimov, a former commander of the Tajik police special unit, joined the IS terror group in 2015.
In August 2016, the U.S. State Department named Halimov as a key member of IS and offered a reward of $3 million for information on his whereabouts.
Iraqi media reported that he had become the militant group's “minister of war.”
There were several claims that he had been killed in an air strike in Iraq, but Tajik authorities have not been able to confirm the reports.
