A 23-year-old resident of Farkhor district (Khatlon province) has got a lengthy jail term for preparation of terrorist attack on an Interior Ministry building in Dushanbe. He has reportedly received instruction to commit the terrorist attack from an emissary of Islamic State (IS) terror group.
The Dushanbe city court has sentenced Orzu Saidaliyev to twenty years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charge of preparation of a terrorist attack in Dushanbe. Saidaliyev will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
An official source at the Dushanbe city court says Saidaliyev was going to commit the terrorist attack on the Interior Ministry building.
He was reportedly going to throw grenades at the Interior Ministry building and then shoot police officers running out of the building from assault rifle Kalashnikov.
The source says Saidaliyev received instructions from IS emissary Tojiddin Nazarov, who adopted an Arabic nom de guerre, Abu Osama Noraki.
Besides, Saidaliyev had to kill Saifullo Yatimov, the chairman of the Navobod village community in Farkhor district for the purpose of disrupting public order and intimidating the population.
Saidaliyev reportedly also had to set fire to the house of Farkhor resident Dilovar Muhiddinov.
Press release issued by the Dushanbe city court says that Orzu Saidaliyev got in touch with members of IS terror group through social networking sites in 2018 when he was working as labor migrant in Kazakhstan.
Tojiddin Nazarov is wanted by Tajik law enforcement authorities for participation in military conflicts in territories of other states.
Some media outlets note that Tojiddin Nazarov, from the village of Uzbeklangar which is not far from the Tajik southern city of Nurek, is viewed as a dangerous militant for his ability to draw Tajiks to the Islamic State (IS) cause through social media.
The last time Tojiddin Nazarov was reportedly seen around Nurek in 2014. His current whereabouts are unknown.
His father, Mahmadrahim Nazarov told Eurasianet that Noraki was teased mercilessly when he was at school because of his small, weak stature and his missing teeth. He reportedly stopped going to school from the ninth grade.
Noraki reportedly came to public notice in April 2017, following an incident in Stockholm in which a national of Uzbekistan, Rakhmat Akilov, used a truck to plow into a crowd of people in the city center. Five were killed. Under questioning, Akilov, who was captured alive, confessed to having received instructions from Noraki. Akilov reportedly described Noraki as “an influential member of Islamic State group.”
According to Radio Ozodi, Noraki is also accused by Russian security services of plotting terrorist attacks on shopping centers in Moscow.
He is viewed as a potentially dangerous militant for his ability to draw Tajiks to the Islamic State cause through his Zello account, which reportedly has up to 15,000 subscribers. Authorities in Dushanbe believe he may have recruited dozens of Tajiks.
