In Bashkiria, four girls vacationing in a Muslim camp are suspected of extremism

Four girls who were vacationing at a Muslim summer camp in the Republic of Tatarstan were summoned to the police for questioning, Novye Izvestiya reports . The police justified their actions by suspecting the girls of having links with extremists who were allegedly preparing a series of terrorist attacks. The parents who were present at the interrogations had the impression that databases of persons professing Islam were being formed in the internal affairs bodies.

Four girls from Ufa visited a camp in the city of Almetyevsk in June. In mid-August, they received summons from the police, where they were invited, accompanied by their parents, for a conversation.

The girls' parents stated that police officers asked their children questions about the composition of the family, the number of people registered in the apartment, the places of work of the parents, why the mother wears the hijab, and how often the family visits the mosque. In response to a request to explain the reason for the call, the police officer said that, according to their information, terrorist attacks were being prepared in Almetyevsk, and this was somehow connected with the work of the camp.

The parents turned to the public organization "Islamic heritage of Bashkortostan" for help.

The co-chairman of the Slavic Legal Center, lawyer Vladimir Ryakhovsky, stressed that there is open discrimination on religious grounds. He noted that most often illegal actions are committed against Muslims.

Ilshat Gatiyatullin, chairman of the Islamic Heritage of Bashkortostan organization, said that in the near future complaints about the incident would be sent to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, the Public Chamber and the Commissioner for Human Rights. "We consider it necessary to draw public attention to this story so that such incidents do not happen again," he said.

Sources

• Mikhail Pozdnyaev. Wrong camp. // New news. 2008. September 2.