DUSHANBE, May 29, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Resident of Sughd’s Bobojonghafurov district Murodjon Turdiyev was detained by local police yesterday on suspicion of being member of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The source at a MoI says the preliminary investigation has established that Turdiyev joined the Hizb ut-Tahrir party in 2009 and since that time, he had been engaged in spreading the Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets and other subversive literature in the region.  When searching his, police found two books concerning ideology of the banned organization.

Criminal proceedings against Murodjon Turdiyev have been instituted on the provisions of articles 187, part 2, and 307, part 2, of Tajikistan’s Criminal Penal – organization of criminal grouping and calling for extremist activities.

As it had been reported earlier, the Supreme Court on March 11, 2008 formally labeled the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir group as an "extremist organization."  The ruling followed a request submitted to the court by the prosecutor-general’s office.  Although the group has been outlawed in Tajikistan since April 2001, the ruling means even tighter restrictions on the group''s presence on the Internet and its use of media to promote its ideology.  Hizb ut-Tahrir reportedly seeks to establish a global caliphate, or Islamic society, although it purports to reject violence in pursuit of its goals.