Press Release
I am Proud that I am Part of this Dawah!
(Translated)

The Security Forces, without drawing the attention of the media, have fabricated a charge (of taking power by force) against a member of Hizb ut Tahrir. The Moscow City Court sentenced a man from Tajikistan, he is Munirkhan Babayev, who was born in 1986, to 9 years, next to the four defendants in this case.

Those who have been sentenced in this case are Ainamov, and Rakhmenkhadjev, and Korbanov and Ismailov, their names were written in the list of political prisoners in the Human Rights Center “Memorial” due to the lack of evidence of the offense and the obvious fabrication in this case. However, all this did not worry the security services at all, they added to the list of services another sentenced man, he is Munirkhan Babayev.

The evidence provided of the involvement of these Muslims in an attempt to overthrow the regime, were records obtained through spying on some conversations and video shoots of their meetings, as well as video recording of an Islamic conference in August 2012 in Salut Hotel in Moscow.

In the materials presented to the court as evidence of the charge, it was clear to all, how the defendants spent hours talking about Islam, its history and its application, and that there was not a word about a plot to change the text of the Constitution. What has been recorded in this video shows that there has been a debate about the Ummah’s problems and ways to solve them. We note also that pursuing members of Hizb ut Tahrir from the beginning was built on lies and on an illegal basis decided by the Supreme Court in 2003, which put Hizb ut Tahrir on the list of terrorist groups.

On top of this, another criminal charge awaits Munirkhan, this time, according to Part 1 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Constitution: the organization of terrorist organization acts is punishable by up to life imprisonment. Therefore they want to sentence Munirkhan twice with the same (offense), which can be summed up as: he is a Muslim seeking to please Allah (swt) by working with Hizb ut Tahrir. All this injustice did not weaken Munirkhan, neither altered his positions, which are built on the basis of Islam, that is in according to what he said in court when they allowed him his final statement:

“In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful, who Has not partners and whom we shall return to on the Day of Reckoning.

I am Munirkhan son of Abdullah, I am a Muslim and I accepted the ideas and beliefs of Hizb ut Tahrir, founded on the doctrine of Islam. I am proud that I have become a part of this call, and that Allah has given me this opportunity. I can say with peace of mind that the charges against me are trumped-up charges. And in particular the charge (which I consider silly) which is the attempt to overthrow the regime or take power in Russia; a country that believes in Orthodox (Christianity)!!! I do not think that there is a person with a sound mind who believes this. I do not have any witnesses to prove my innocence (although my accuser is the one who should provide witnesses). But Allah is my witness, and that is more than sufficient, I turn to Him and ask His help, He is quick to answer, and He will judge between us.”

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Russia