Photo from Today.tj
Tajik authorities have arrested 27 people suspected of having links to the politico-religious organisation the Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia and Tajikistan), Radio Liberty’s Tajik website Ozodi reports (in Russian), citing sources in law enforcement agencies in the country.
The alleged members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested at the start of January across several regions of Tajikistan – in the cities of Dushanbe and Vahdat, as well as in Rudaki district and in the Sughd and Khatlon regions. Among the arrested are university teachers, former schoolteachers, and the head of a village council. The names of two of the arrested have become known: prayer leaders Ismoil Kakhorov from Vahdat and Abdullo Mukamilov from Rudaki district. No official charges have yet been made. According to information from Ozodi, the number of arrests may rise.
“Our relative was arrested on 2 January, and since then we haven’t seen him. He was arrested after a statement made to police by the imam, his wife’s brother. During the search the police confiscated some religious books. They searched the whole house and even the cowshed,” said the relative of one of the suspects on condition of anonymity.
The news website Akhbor has reported the arrest of 150-200 people and states that one of the arrested is a foreign citizen – an Egyptian by the name of Bayumi, who worked as a teacher at a university in Dushanbe.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt by schoolteacher Hasan al-Banna. The goal of the organisation was stated to be the Islamisation of society and the establishment of a state based on the sharia. By the end of the Second World War the movement counted around half a million members. The Muslim Brotherhood wields significant influence in a number of Arab countries.
