KHUJAND, February 26, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Istaravshan resident Suhrob Ghafourov, 32, has been detained on suspicion of aiding activists of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

According to the Sughd police directorate, Suhrob Ghafourov is accused of keeping silent about having provided his house for meetings in which IMU activists participated.

The source says police officers detained Ghafourov on February 23 while checking information about activities of Dilshod Rahimov, head of the IMU cell for Istaravshan, and his confederates, who had been detained earlier.

“The investigation has established that that various religious meetings were held in Ghafourov’s house from 2007 to 2009 and Dilshod Rahimov, his brother and two other IMU activists also participated in those meetings calling for creation of an Islamic state in Tajikistan by means of Jihad,” he said.

According to him, Ghafourov failed to inform the law enforcement authorities about those meetings that means that he committed a crime.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Suhrob Ghafourov under the provisions of Article 237 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – not reporting a crime or misprision of crime, and an investigation is under way, the source said.

The Sughd police directorate chief Sharif Nazarov said on January 17 that four suspected members of IMU were killed and 48 others arrested in the province last year.