DUSHANBE, August 29, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Four Tajik nationals have got long jail terms on charge of being members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The Supreme Court on August 28 ruled that Bilol Mousozoda and Mirzoali Kholov be given jail term of 15 years each and Nosir Ghulomhaidarov and Abdusattor Abdulloyev be given jail term of eight years each and they should serve them in a high-security penal colony.  The sentence followed their conviction on charge of participation in criminal group (Article 187 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).

Justice Musamir Uroqov, who took in the trial, told reporters in Dushanbe on August 28 that in the early 1990s, the convicted persons had left Tajikistan for Afghanistan were they had studied in different madrasahs and then they had taken training course at terrorist camps.  Besides, they joined up with Taliban militants and fought against troops of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance.

“They joined the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in 1998,” said the judge, “In 2002, a year after the US-led war began in Afghanistan, they returned to Tajikistan.”

According to him, they were arrested by security officers in March 2009 on suspicion of having been involved in terrorist activity in the territory of foreign state and illegally crossing border.

Al-Qaeda (The Base) is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989/early 1990.  It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless arm and a fundamentalist Sunni movement calling for Jihadi international.  Al-Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries, the most notable being the September 11 attacks in 2001.  These actions were followed by the US government launching the War on Terrorism.  Characteristic techniques include suicide attacks and simultaneous bombings of different targets.   Activities ascribed to it may involve members of the movement, who have taken a pledge of loyalty to Osama bin Laden, or the much more numerous "al-Qaeda-linked" individuals who have undergone training in one of its camps in Afghanistan or Sudan but not taken any pledge.

Al-Qaeda has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council, the NATO Secretary General, the Commission of the European Communities of the European Union, the United States Department of States and many counties, including Tajikistan.