KHUJAND, May 31, Asia-Plus - A court in the northern district of Bobojonghafurov (Sughd province) has sentenced a 30-year-old local resident Abdurrasul Jabborov to 17 years’ imprisonment on charge of being member of the outlawed religious extremist “Hizb ut-Tahrir” organization.

Obidjon Sharopov, chairman of the Bobojonghafurov district court, has told Asia-Plus that Jabborov has been member of the “Hizb ut-Tahrir” party since 1999.  “In January 2001he was detained for spreading the Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets and on January 16 2001 , a court in the city of Chkalovsk sentenced him to six years in prison,” said Sharopov, “In January 2005, Jabborov was granted amnesty and released from jail.”  

“However, Jabborov has become active member of Hizb ut-Tahrir again, establishing a group numbering 15 activists of the party in the Bobojonghafurov district,” said the court chairman, “They were spreading the Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets and literature among the district population.”  On September 7 2005 , Jabborov was detained when he was spreading the leaflets at the town of Ghafurov , the administrative center of the Bobojonghafurov district, according to Obidjon Sharopov.  

Jabborov has been found guilty of inciting ethnic, racial or religious enmity, public calls for overthrow of Tajikistan ’s current form of government, organization of criminal group, and sentenced to 17 years in jail.