Russia’s security service has arrested four more members of Hizb ur-Tahrir, this time in the Crimea, which it annexed controversially less than two years ago. The four were arrested on the basis that Hizb ut-Tahrir is a “terrorist organisation”, and that they were guilty of promoting the overthrow of the government, calling to replace it with an Islamic State.
It is ironic to be accused of terrorism by a state like Russia, whose state-backed terrorism in Syria needs no introduction.
The oft-repeated Russian lie regarding the overthrow of the government is a convenient fabrication, wheeled out whenever it is desirous of arresting and torturing more of HT’s members. The sorts of tests faced by brothers and sisters of the Hizb in Russia are increasingly many in number. We ask Allah (ta’ala) to increase these brothers and sisters in resolve and to strengthen their foothold.
Ultimately, the Russian authorities are not blind and know who and what they are targeting; these invested accusations have never deterred the Hizb and certainly will not do in the case of one of the most criminal regimes the world knows, standing against which is one of the needs of today.
Russian Agents Raid “Crimean Hizb ut-Tahrir” Cell
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested members of an alleged “terrorist cell” in Crimea, the RIA Novosti news service reported Wednesday.
The individuals are believed to be members of the the illegal organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, according to an unnamed law enforcement source.The FSB declined to comment.
Four members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami organization were found guilty in September of promoting the overthrow of the constitutional order and replacing it with a theocratic Islamic State.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international organization seeking to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate and enforce Islamic Sharia law. It is officially banned as a terrorist organization in Russia, Germany, Turkey, and many Arab countries. It is not banned in Ukraine, though, which maintains territorial claims on Crimea. Ukrainian foreign ministry has already demanded to stop the prosecution of Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority in Crimea to which the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir members belong.
