THE LATEST HIZB-UT-TAHRIR TRIAL DEFENDANTS SAY THEY CONFESSED UNDER TORTURE.

The Akmalikramovskyi
district court of the city of Tashkent convicted 23 people to imprisonment
varying from 8 to 18 years for alleged violations of the articles 159 (attempt
to overthrow the constitutional government of Uzbekistan), 216 (participating
in banned public associations or religious organizations), and 244 (possessing
and distributing materials threatening national security) of the Uzbekistan
Criminal Code. The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan that monitored the trial
maintains that the allegations are based not on evidence of participation in
anti-state or terrorist activity but on the religious practice and beliefs of
the accused. At the trial, most of the accused retracted their earlier
testimonies given during interrogation, saying that they were forced to
confess under torture and threats to their families. They also maintained that
MVD (Internal Affairs Ministry) agents themselves planted the leaflets of
Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) and other unsanctioned religious
literature in their homes. 

Ruslan Sharipov of
the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan states that this latest trial is yet
another manifestation of the continuing government crack down on pious Muslims
under premises of fighting Islamic fundamentalism. ‘This instigates witch
hunt fears in the society to the extent that people are not only afraid to
express their religious beliefs in public or wear religious dress, but even to
pray at their own homes, as their private religious practices are closely
followed by the local Makhallya
committees,’ he said. Makhallya
committees are often presented by official Tashkent as democratic institutions
grounded in Uzbek traditions. But, in fact, one of their functions is to
report suspicious behavior of particular individuals and families to security
services. Through Makhallya
committees, the SNB (National Security Service) also distributes
questionnaires aimed at identifying young people susceptible to fundamentalist
ideas. Based on normal">Makhallya reports, the SNB composes ‘black lists’ of suspicious
Muslims who are watched by the agents and arrested whenever there is a
perceived threat by the IMU or Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

A known Uzbek human
rights advocate based in Washington DC, Abdumannob Polat says that security
agents decide on whether someone belongs or sympathizes with the banned
Hizb-ut-Tahrir or IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) parties on the basis of
religious practices that are associated with fundamentalism and
‘wahhabism’ in this region. For instance, agents who
routinely infiltrate every mosque make notice of what people talk about, what
they wear and how they pray. One of the SNB and MVD prescriptions for
distinguishing ‘fundamentalist’ Muslims from ‘moderate’ Muslims is
through the way they perform their prayer. The difference is that
‘fundamentalists’ say loudly ‘Allahu Akbar’ and raise their hands
during the prayer as opposed to traditional Central Asian Muslims of the
Hanafi school, who recite ‘Allahu Akbar’ silently and hold their hands at
their chests. Another distinction is that fundamentalists tend not to observe
traditional ‘iygyrmasy’ (20 days), ‘qyrqy’ (40 days) font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
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'yili' (year) commemoration
dinners for deceased relatives.

The
Uzbek embassy in Washington had no comments when asked about recent mass
trials. On the question of religious persecution, however, a secretary of the
political and press section, Ravshan Nazarkulov, asserted that there is no
oppression of Islam in Uzbekistan. ‘The government considers Islam to be a
social basis of Uzbek society and always promotes Islamic values,’ he said.
He also referred to Naqshbandyyah Sufi Tariqat leader sheikh Hisham Kabbani
and the Naqshbandyyah organization in America, the Islamic Supreme Council of
America. Sheikh Kabbani and his group have visited Uzbekistan on several
occasions, most recently in April 2001, and widely publicized a positive
opinion of the state of religious affairs in Uzbekistan. Characterizing the
post-Soviet period in Uzbekistan as Islamic Renaissance, the Islamic Supreme
Council of America commended the president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov for his
commitment to preserve Uzbekistan’s rich Islamic heritage and traditions –
his contributions to restoring Islamic holy sites, establishing Islamic
centers of learning, and building new mosques.

By Alima Bissenova,

a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and an
editorial assistant to the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst.