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News & Comment
New arrests in the Crimea
News
On 11th October 2017 there was a further wave of arrests against Muslims in the Crimea on charges of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir party. This time the arrests took place in the city of Bakhchisaray, the former capital of the Crimean Vilayat – the peninsula used to be called so before being annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. And today Bakhchisaray is a kind of political and enlightened center of the Crimean Tatars, and here the Russian authorities often attack, each time arresting Muslims on fabricated charges of terrorism.
Comment
This time there are six Muslims behind bars, each of whom takes an active public position: Marlen Asanov, Timur Ibragimov, Server Zekiryaev, Ernest Ametov, Seyran Saliev and Memet Belyalov. As usual, on charges of involvement in Hizb ut Tahrir, the defendants are incriminated with part 1 and part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – organization of the activities of a terrorist organization. The sanction for the second part of this article (participation in the activities of the organization) is from 10 to 20 years of imprisonment, and the sanction for the first part cannot be less than 15 years and reaches a life imprisonment.
The Muslims of the Crimea immediately reacted to the next repressions against the sons of the people: on 14th October already hundreds of people all over the Crimea took to the streets for single pickets with posters on which the demands for the termination of fabrications of criminal cases on charges of terrorism were written. Russian security forces promptly reacted – according to the results of the action dozens of activists were detained and interrogated.
New arrests and protest actions caused serious resonance in the media, both in Ukrainian and Russian. Many scientists, journalists and human rights activists once again spoke about the absolute groundlessness of the accusations of terrorism against Hizb ut Tahrir. Thus, after each series of such arrests, more and more people get to know about the crimes of Russia against the Muslims of the Crimea and other regions.
It is noteworthy that in just a few days, on 17th October, in the city of Almetyevsk (Tatarstan), there were arrests of Muslims on charges of involvement in Hizb ut Tahrir. Eight Muslims were arrested, and subjected to preventive measures arrests, they are charged exactly with the same article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. To date, the cumulative number of Muslims deprived of their liberty on charges of involvement in Hizb ut Tahrir has reached approximately 300 people. In the Crimea alone, where 20 people were arrested on charges of involvement in an Islamic political party – the FSB left more than 100 children without fathers!
Undoubtedly, all these crimes of Russia are just a temporary phenomenon, and they will necessarily end with permission of Allah (swt), when Muslims will finally establish their state in Muslim countries. Until then, the Muslims of the Crimea are ready to fight to the end to preserve their religion and identity, and are already sacrificing their property, freedom and security on this path!
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Muhammad Mansur