Yesterday news reports from Russia confirmed what had been posted in the previous week on social media about another swathe of arrests, this time of young brothers involved with Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.
In the last week alone we’ve brought to our readers’ attention the confirmation of mass arrests of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Russia, the jailing of 4 young mothers and the long-term incarceration of a member already jailed for 2 years.
Tatarstan is a semi-autonomous republic within the Russian Federation, and contains a large population of Sunni Muslims. Within this Muslim community Hizb ut-Tahrir has been a strong voice of resistance to the Russian government’s intimidatory tactics towards Muslims in the last few years, growing in number and support within the community.
The Russian government has, over the last 4 years, clamped down on the Hizb and arrested hundreds of its members and students around Russia, including Tatarstan. In this particular swathe of arrests, young brothers have been raided and arrested for the possession of literature and notebooks containing information deemed “anti-Russian, anti-constitutional and propaganda work”. Government-controlled agencies like Interfax continue to propagate the trope of Hizb ut-Tahrir as a “terrorist” outfit, which often comes in the context of blatant evidence fabrication to sustain arrests and jail terms.
We pray that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) grants istiqamah to the Muslims and activists of Russia, including those in the Hizb.
Article from Interfax confirming this news:
Group of Tatarstan residents suspected of participating in Hizb ut-Tahrir
Kazan, March 31, Interfax – Local residents suspected of participation in the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami international terrorist organization have been detained in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan.
A source in law enforcement agencies told Interfax on Thursday that criminal cases have been opened against 17 Tatarstan residents on a count of ‘organizing a terrorist organization’s activities and participating in the activities of such an organization’.
According to the source, security service officers have conducted searches at 21 apartments in Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny and Almetyevsk where the organization’s leaders and active members live.
“A substantial amount of printed materials produced by Hizb ut-Tahrir, notebooks containing handwritten texts with information about persons recently recruited by the organization, as well as electronic reports confirming the existence of aggressive anti-Russian, anti-constitutional and propaganda work among the republic’s Muslims have been confiscated,” the source said.
Thirteen suspects have already been remanded into custody or have been placed under house arrest for two months.
