KHUJAND, June 10, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Resident of Sughd’s Bobojonghafurov district, A.A., 46, has been arrested for membership in the outlawed extremist religious Hizb ut-Tahrir group.

The source at the Sughd police directorate says A.A. was detained in the Ismoil jamoat of Bobojonghafurov district on June 8.  “The preliminary investigation has established that A.A. joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in1998 and rose to the rank of “amir” for Sughd province,” said the source.  “He was engaged in propagation of the Hizb ut-Tahrir ideas and recruitment of new members in the area.”

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against A.A. under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 187 (1) – organization of a criminal grouping; Article 189 (1) – incitement of ethnic, racial, regional or religious enmity; and Article 307 (2) – public calls for violent change to the constitutional order of Tajikistan.  An investigation is under way.

According to the Sughd prosecutor’s office, three criminal cases have been instituted against 29 Hizb ut-Tahrir members over the first three months of this year.

The Supreme Court of Tajikistan formally labeled the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group as an extremist organization on March 11, 2008.  The ruling followed a request submitted to the court by Tajik chief prosecutor.  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.