Resident of the Tajik northern city of Isfara has been jailed for membership in the Islamic Movement of Turkestan (former Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) and Jamaat Ansarullah, which were officially banned in Tajikistan as terrorist and extremist organizations.
The Isfara city court sentenced the 46-year-old resident of Isfara, Vahhob Okhonov, to six years in prison on May 16.
The sentenced reportedly followed his conviction on charges of participating in activities of political parties, public or religious associations, which are banned in Tajikistan as extremist organizations (Article 307’ (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code). Okhonov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
Jamaat Ansarullah, also known as the Society of Allah’s Soldiers, first came to light in September 2010 when the heretofore unknown organization claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on September 3 in Khujand, the capital of the Tajik northern Sughd province. An explosives-packed car rammed into the building of the Sughd regional organized crime control department, killing two officers and two civilians and wounding 28 people. The suicide bomber was local resident Akmal Karimov, who was reportedly trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In September 2011, Jamaat Ansarullah issued several videos calling on Tajikistan’s citizens to embrace jihad against “infidels” and urging them to take action to support the implementation of Islamic Sharia law. “Those who pray namaz, who follow fasting rules but support democracy are nonbelievers,” a man on the video said. “Allah is killing nonbelievers by our hands and, thus, blesses us.” Some politicians and experts, however, doubt whether these videos can really be traced back to Jamaat Ansarullah.
In May 2012, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court officially banned Jamaat Ansarullah as extremist on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
Jamaat Ansarullah is the only Tajik-founded terrorist organization. It reportedly emerged in Pakistan in the early 1990s and gradually moved to Afghanistan under commander of Amriddin Tabaraov. According to the Tajik law enforcement authorities, Tabarov, also known as Domullo Amriddin, was killed in Afghanistan in December 2015.
The Islamic Movement of Turkestan was reportedly established on the basis of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
