Suspects of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir detained in Bashkiria

Seven people suspected of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir have been detained in Bashkiria. This was reported by the STRC "Bashkortostan" with reference to the press service of the republican FSB.

The report does not say what crimes the detainees are suspected of, but it is stated that the Hizb ut-Tahrir unit in Ufa solved “the tasks of involving the inhabitants of the republic in terrorist activities, spreading militant Islamist propaganda, and causing a split in the Muslim community of Bashkortostan.”

“The members of Hizb ut-Tahrir saw the elimination of non-Islamic governments and the creation of a theocratic unitary state (“Islamic caliphate”), which includes the territory of Bashkortostan, as their main goal,” the GTRK website reports.

One of the seven detainees is named as the leader in the message. Apparently, they, like others persecuted in connection with their alleged membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir, will be charged under the article on involvement in the activities of a terrorist organization: the “leader” as an organizer (part 1 of article 205.5 of the Criminal Code), the rest - as participants (part 2 of article 205.5 of the Criminal Code).

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s policy statements do indeed speak of the creation of a “World Caliphate” as the main goal of its activity, however, experts from a number of human rights organizations believe that this is not a basis for recognizing the organization as a terrorist organization and persecuting its members, whose involvement in the preparation and organization of terrorist attacks unproven as members of a terrorist organization.