Hizb Ut-Tahrir Officially Recognized As Extremist in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE. March 12 (Interfax) – The Tajik Supreme Court has recognized the earlier banned Hizb ut-Tahrir party as extremist and banned importing any propaganda materials of the party, including video, audio and printed, to the country, press secretary of the Tajik Supreme Court Mashkura Sodirova told Interfax on Wednesday.

“Having studied materials dealing with the activity of the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, the Tajik Supreme Court acknowledged that its activity in Tajikistan is extremist and is dangerous to Tajikistan’s national security,” Sodirova said.

An order to block access to the official web site of Hizb ut- Tahrir will soon be issued, she said.

This could be the first official instance of blocking access to a web site. Earlier, access to a number of information web sites, which criticized Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, was blocked ahead of the presidential election in November 2006. The authorities, however, then denied their involvement, citing technical problems as a reason.

The majority of extremists are usually detained in northern Tajikistan at the border with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Twelve suspected members of various extremist organizations were apprehended in Tajikistan last year.

The Hizb ut-Tahrir organization was set up in Palestine in 1952. The party’s headquarters are located in London. Hizb ut-Tahrir’s goal is to overthrow constitutional regimes in Muslim states and create a caliphate, a single Islamic state. The organization is on the list of extremist and terrorist organizations in Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and the United States. The party’s leaders, however, claim it does not spread ideas of overthrowing constitutional regimes.

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