Press Release
Russian Security Services Arrest Hizb ut Tahrir Officials in Russia
(Translated)

On October 11, 2018, Russian media reported the arrest of Hizb ut Tahrir officials in Russia and Tatarstan. The following day, three of them were arrested. They stated that the three detainees were Edward Nizemov, born in 1977; they described him as the party's branch official in Russia, Eldar Ahmedov, born in 1977, and Rais Jamadinov, born in 1970, both described as party officials in the regions.

In a report released by the Russian Federal Security Agency, RT said: "Preliminary investigations indicate that the detainee was coordinating with other leaders of the organization residing in other countries in order to carry out actions within Russia contrary to the country's constitution, based on a doctrine founded to establish a unified theocratic state comprising several states and territories, which is called the state of the "global caliphate". The organization seeks to overthrow the legal authority and allows to resort to terrorism to achieve its goals. In addition to seeking to bring more Muslims within Russia to its ranks and to organize cells linked to each other in serial structures, the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb ut Tahrir) was found to support the "terrorist" organizations and the outlaw gangs in the Middle East”.

Considering the above, we declare the following:

The method of work of the Islamic political party, Hizb ut Tahrir, is known to the whole world. However, Russia is the only one to include it on the list of terrorist organizations based on fabricated and invented accusations against the party members. This is confirmed by human rights organizations that cannot be accused of being sympathetic with Islamic parties, as they include these members in the list of political prisoners in Russia, which mainly contain the names of party members.

Hizb ut Tahrir poses no danger to society but criticizes the government for its policy of fighting Islam within the country. Russia does not find what to offer to other countries, so it shows its readiness to fight against Islam without reason, which is observed in Syria and Central Asia.

Thus, other arrests of Muslims took place on charges of organizing Hizb ut Tahrir activities without having any threat or danger to society, but they coincided with the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Organization held in Dushanbe on 11-12 October. At the conclusion of the 32nd meeting of the Regional Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held on Apr 5, 2018, General Sergei Smirno, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federal Security Service, said that there was an intention to create an algorithm to combat Hizb ut Tahrir, stressing that “Hizb ut Tahrir al-Islami is the most dangerous group, in our opinion, from the point of view of its actions, its propaganda.... ".

In fact, Russia wanted to show its success in the war against Hizb ut Tahrir to the public opinion, thus, the video showing the arrests in Tatarstan was published directly via Russian television channels that broadcast Russian propaganda abroad.

Allah (swt) said:

(وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ)

“And [remember, O Muhammad], when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you [from Makkah]. But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.” [Al-Anfal:30]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Russia