The UN Security Council has extended sanctions against Gulmurod Halimov. This disproves reports about his death.
The name of Gulmurod Halimov, a former commander of the Tajik police special unit (OMON), is mentioned in a new sanction list of the UN Security Council that was published on October 21, 2020.
In the new sanction list of the UN Security Council, Gulmurod Halimov is mentioned as military expert, member and recruiter of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Iraq and Syria. The list notes that Halimov is wanted by the Government of Tajikistan and Interpol.
Gulmurod Halimov was put on the UN Security Council sanction list on February 29, 2016.
On August 20, 2018, the UN Security Council extended sanctions against Gulmurod Halimov.
Recall, the former commander of the Tajik OMON, Gulmurod Halimov, joined the Islamic State 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 US$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.
In late October 2017, the Khatlon regional court 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 was reportedly killed during a riot that broke out in a high-security penal colony in Vahdat Township in May 2019. According to the Tajik authorities, he was one of instigators of the riot.
