A press conference was held in Moscow on the trial of the ban on Said Nursi's books

On May 17, a press conference was held in Moscow, the participants of which - Nafigulla Ashirov, head of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of the AChR, Rafik Mukhametshin, rector of the RIU, Ibragim Ibragimov, head of the Nuri-Badi cultural and educational center, and lawyer Sergey Sychev, expressed concern about the course of the trial on the case of banning books Muslim theologian Said Nursi. In their opinion, the recognition of S. Nursi's books as extremist literature will enable the prosecutor's office and law enforcement agencies, which have recently stepped up pressure on Muslims under the slogan of combating religious extremism, to start real repressions against adherents of Islam.

“The ban on these books,” N. Ashirov emphasized, “will be an unusually expensive gift from extremist-minded people who will see in this ban the real atheistic essence of the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement agencies in relation to the Islamic religion in Russia. I am sure that the ban on these books can be the last straw which will lead radical youth to join the ranks of militants who for many years have been trumpeting that the state is fighting Islam, not separatism."

The press conference also made public a letter from Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, to the Koptevsky District Court of Moscow, urging them to treat the decision in this case with particular attention in order to "prevent interference in the matters of belief and faith of millions of citizens" and "avoid repetition of the practice of prohibitions and persecution against non-believers".

Sources

• Romanov A. Nafigulla Ashirov: Under the guise of combating extremism, Islam is being destroyed in Russia // New region. 2007. May 17.
• The case against the books of Said Nursi is the basis for repression // IslamNews.ru. 2007. May 17.