KHUJAND, February 23, 2016, Asia-Plus -- Eight residents of the northern province of Sughd have got various jail terms for membership in the outlawed religious extremist Salafi group.

The Khujand city court sentenced them to prison terms between 3½ and 4 years on February 22.  The sentence reportedly followed their conviction on charges of organizing activity of an extremist group and participating in the banned political party or public association (Article 307’ (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).  They will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony.

The youngest in the group is 29, the oldest 36.

A source at the Khujand city court says the men joined the Salafi movement voluntarily and they were engaged in disseminating the Salafi ides and recruiting new members for the group.

According to him, they were arrested by officers of the Interior Ministry’s office in the Bobojonghafourov district in October last year.

The Salafi movement or Salafist movement is an ultra-conservative orthodox movement within Sunni Islam that references the doctrine known as Salafism.

The movement claims to follow a strict and pure form of Islam, but Tajik clerics say the Salafis’ radical stance is similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Salafis do not recognize other branches of Islam, such as Shi''a and Sufism.  The movement is frequently referred to as Wahhabism, although Salafis reject this as derogatory.

The Tajik authorities banned Salafism as an illegal group on January 8, 2009, saying the Salafi movement represents a potential threat to national security and the Supreme Court added Salafis to its list of religious groups prohibited from operating in the country.

On December 8, 2014, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan formally labeled the banned Salafi group as an extremist organization.  The ruling reportedly followed a request submitted to the court by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.  The ruling means that the group’s website and printed materials are also banned.

The overwhelming majority of Tajiks are followers of the Hanafi madhab, a more liberal branch of Sunni Islam.