FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

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22 September 2010
RUSSIA: WILL RUSSIA EXTRADITE READER OF MUSLIM THEOLOGIAN TO UZBEKISTAN?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1490
Bobirjon Tukhtamurodov, an Uzbek reader of the works of Muslim theologian
Said Nursi, has been arrested in Russia after a request from Uzbekistan,
Forum 18 News Service has learned. He fled Uzbekistan after being warned
his arrest was likely, after his brother, another reader of Nursi’s works,
was given a six year jail sentence. A prosecution official told Forum 18
that the extradition decision will be taken by the General Prosecutor’s
Office in Moscow. Yelena Ryabinina of the Moscow-based Human Rights
Institute told Forum 18 that “people are being sought and prosecuted not
because of any extremist actions, but because of what they read. The Uzbek
authorities regard any religious or political dissidence or independent
activity as a threat that must be crushed”, she told Forum 18. “There is an
international ban on extraditing individuals to countries where torture is
practised – and Russia should abide by this. We are ready to take this case
as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if we have to,”
she added.
* See full article below. *

24 September 2010
TURKMENISTAN: “WOMEN CAN’T STUDY THERE”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1492
Women are banned from studying theology in Turkmenistan – including Islamic
theology, the only permitted religious university subject – an official has
told Forum 18 News Service. “Only men are accepted for this course,” the
State University official – who did not give her name or role – told Forum
18. “Women can’t study there.” She declined to say why this discrimination
against women has been imposed. This is the only university-level
institution in Turkmenistan where the government allows any religious faith
to be studied, and only Islam is permitted to be studied. It is also the
only institution where the government allows young men who want to become
imams to be trained. Potential imams are not allowed to study abroad, and
only a small number of men (some of whom do not wish to become imams) are
allowed to academically study any religious topic. Only the Russian
Orthodox Church is permitted to send male and female students abroad for
their studies, and the possibilities for all other formal and informal
(such as Sunday School) religious education and instruction are extremely
severely restricted.

23 September 2010
UZBEKISTAN: THREE YEARS IN LABOUR CAMP “NOT A SEVERE PUNISHMENT”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1491
Uzbekistan continues to imprison devout Muslims for long terms and devout
Christians for short terms, Forum 18 News Service has found. Three-year
labour camp terms have been imposed on seven Muslim men, with four others
receiving suspended jail terms, for holding unauthorised private religion
lessons. The judge in the case, Rahimzhon Aliyev, told Forum 18 that three
years in a labour camp is “not a severe punishment”. Conditions in labour
camps can be particularly harsh, with unsanitary and dangerous living and
working conditions, beatings by guards, and criminal gangs having a
ruthless hold over other prisoners. Pressed on why courts, including his
court, have given severe punishments for unregistered religious activity,
Judge Aliyev said that it is “because of Uzbek law”. In another case, two
Protestants have been given five-day administrative detentions for
unregistered religious activity, with two others being fined. The judge in
this case, Gulsara Buranova, in 2009 had previously fined one of the
defendants. Two South Koreans have also been deported, for alleged
“unauthorised missionary activity”.

22 September 2010
RUSSIA: WILL RUSSIA EXTRADITE READER OF MUSLIM THEOLOGIAN TO UZBEKISTAN?

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1490
By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

Human rights defenders fear that if Uzbek migrant Bobirjon Tukhtamurodov –
arrested on 18 August in the Russian city of Novosibirsk after an Uzbek
request – is extradited to his native Uzbekistan he will face certain
imprisonment and possible torture. The Uzbek authorities allege that he is
a religious extremist as part of a group allegedly spreading the teachings
of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi. Although Tukhtamurodov is
being held in Novosibirsk, the decision on extradition will be taken by
Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow, an official of the Regional
Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to Forum 18 News Service from Novosibirsk.

The 35-year-old Tukhtamurodov, who is from the Uzbek city of Bukhara
[Bukhoro] and married with three children, had fled to Russia in February
2010 after being warned that his arrest was likely, his supporters told
Forum 18.

Uzbek and Russian campaigns

Tukhtamurodov’s younger brother Botir was given a six-year prison term by
Uzbekistan at the end of a large trial of Nursi readers in Bukhara in April
2009. Their appeals were rejected in June 2009 (see F18News 4 June 2009
). Muslim readers of
Nursi’s works are regularly given long prison sentences in Uzbekistan, and
Protestant Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses are regularly given very
short jail terms (see eg. F18News 18 August 2010
).

In Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslim readers of Nursi’s works are the
target of a nationwide campaign by the authorities (see eg. 7 September
2010 ). Ilham Islamli
became in August the first Russian Nursi reader to be convicted under the
Criminal Code and punished under extremism-related charges, when he was
sentenced to ten months’ detention suspended for one year. Another Nursi
reader in Dagestan, Ziyautdin Dapayev, faces a continuing criminal
investigation (see F18News 26 August 2010
).

Uzbek policeman in Moscow states accusations

Abdulla Kazakov of Bukhara regional police in Uzbekistan, who worked on the
case, told Forum 18 that Tukhtamurodov is guilty of extremism and the Uzbek
authorities are expecting his extradition.

“Our Bukhara regional National Security Service [NSS secret police]
investigated the case,” he told Forum 18 on 20 September from Moscow, where
he said he was working on another case. “We arrested Tukhtamurodov in
Novosibirsk, as he didn’t appear when he was summoned to court in Bukhara
in April. Our work is now finished.” He denied that he had been present at
Tukhtamurodov’s arrest.

Kazakov said Tukhtamurodov is accused of violating two Articles of the
Uzbek Criminal Code: Article 244-1, Part 3 (“preparation or distribution of
materials threatening public security and public order”), which carries a
maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment, and 244-2, Part 1 (“creation,
leadership or participation in religious extremist, separatist or
fundamentalist or other banned organisations”), which is punishable by five
to fifteen years’ imprisonment.

First Nusi reader to be extradited from Russia?

Kazakov added that the investigation of his case was led by investigator
Abdurahim Kilichev of Bukhara regional NSS secret police. However,
officials there told Forum 18 on 20 September that Kilichev was away on a
work trip and no-one else was available to discuss Tukhtamurodov’s case.

Lidiya Ozdoeva of Novosibirsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to
Forum 18 the Uzbek charges against Tukhtamurodov. She said the Uzbek
authorities claim he is a member of the Nurcilar movement following the
teachings of the late Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi.

Readers of Nursi’s works in both Russia and Uzbekistan insist that no such
organised movement exists.

Although the Russian authorities have frequently extradited to Uzbekistan
suspects the Uzbek authorities regard as extremists, Forum 18 believes this
is the first time this has been used against a reader of Nursi’s works.

Call to reject extradition request

Yelena Ryabinina, Head of the Right to Asylum Programme of the Moscow-based
Human Rights Institute, called for the Russian authorities to reject the
extradition request. “This and similar cases from Uzbekistan are
ideological persecution,” she told Forum 18 from Moscow on 21 September.
“People are being sought and prosecuted not because of any extremist
actions, but because of what they read. The Uzbek authorities regard any
religious or political dissidence or independent activity as a threat that
must be crushed.”

Ryabinina points to the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), of which
both Uzbekistan and Russia are members. “SCO members have agreed a joint
approach to what they regard as terrorism, extremism and separatism,” she
complained. “Any reason to persecute people in one SCO state is enough to
persecute them in others. This has a catastrophic influence on the fate of
individuals.”

Ryabinina of the Human Rights Institute fears that if Tukhtamurodov is
returned to Uzbekistan, he is likely to be tortured and given a long term
of imprisonment. “Uzbekistan has a ban on torture, but this is ignored and
Uzbekistan practices torture systematically,” she declared. “There is an
international ban on extraditing individuals to countries where torture is
practised – and Russia should abide by this. We are ready to take this case
as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if we have to.”

The use or threat of torture by Uzbekistan is often reported by victims of
religious freedom violations, although they normally do not wish to
publicly testify to torture and other forms of brutality (see eg. F18News
29 April 2010 ).

Police officer states Uzbek officials not involved in arrest

Tukhtamurodov was detained at a Traffic Police post in Novosibirsk soon
after midnight on 18 August. The following day the IslamNews.ru agency,
quoting the Society for Political Immigrants from Central Asia, said he was
one of the passengers in a car returning from Tarawih night prayers (held
during Ramadan) in a local mosque when the car was stopped.

The Society accused some Russian officials of a conspiracy with the Uzbek
secret police to arrest Tukhtamurodov, viewing the arrest as part of a
long-running Uzbek “hunt for dissidents” currently living in Russia. It
claimed that the plainclothes men who detained him presented no documents,
and that one of them spoke Uzbek.

However Aleksandr Tokarev, an officer of the Novosibirsk regional police
Counterextremism Department, who admitted to Forum 18 that he had been
present during the arrest, insisted that all those arresting Tukhtamurodov
had been Russian officials. “No-one was there from Uzbekistan,” he told
Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on 20 September with a laugh. He insisted that he
and his fellow officers had identified themselves and presented
documentation to back up their arrest.

Tokarev told Forum 18 that Tukhtamurodov has been ordered held in
Novosibirsk’s Investigation Prison No. 1 until an extradition decision is
given.

“That’s a state secret”

Asked how the police had known that Tukhtamurodov had been in the car,
Tokarev responded: “That’s a state secret.”

Tokarev said his Centre no longer had a role in the case. “We don’t
establish guilt – that’s an issue for the Prosecutor’s Office,” he told
Forum 18. “Tukhtamurodov was wanted internationally and we just fulfilled
the warrant.”

The Traffic Police and local police Counterextremism Departments have
previously also been used to stop and search Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses
and Muslim readers of Said Nursi’s works for literature banned under
anti-extremism legislation. It is unclear how these agencies know which
vehicles and individuals to search (see F18News 27 July 2010
), but the FSB security
service is known to in a co-ordinated manner closely watch their believers
and communities (see eg. F18News 12 August 2010
).

Case now with General Prosecutor’s Office

Ozdoeva of Novosibirsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office told Forum 18 that her
Office had concluded that Tukhtamurodov should be extradited to Uzbekistan
in accordance with Article 56 of the Commonwealth of Independent States’
1993 Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations on Civil, Family
and Criminal Cases.

Ozdoeva added that the case has now been transferred to the General
Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow, which will take the decision.

Asked why her Office seems to have accepted at face value the accusations
against Tukhtamurodov levelled by the Uzbek authorities, Ozdoeva insisted
that her Office was not in a position to verify the accusations. “If
Uzbekistan sends documents that a criminal investigation is underway
against someone, it is our role to complete the paperwork,” she told Forum
18. “If he objects to the charges, Tukhtamurodov can defend his rights – he
has a lawyer and has access to all the paperwork.”

Will General Prosecutor’s Office agree to extradition?

Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow declined to discuss
Tukhtamurodov’s case by telephone, insisting it can only respond to
questions submitted in writing.

Tukhtamurodov’s lawyer, Igor Khryachkov, told Forum 18 from Novosibirsk on
20 September that it could be several months before the General
Prosecutor’s Office rules on the extradition, as it will have to liaise
also with the General Prosecutor’s Office in Uzbekistan. In the meantime,
he said he would try to have his client freed as he awaits the decision.
“But it’s unlikely the court will overturn the detention decision.”

Asked whether the General Prosecutor’s Office is likely to accede to the
Uzbek extradition request, Khryachkov said that in law it had the
possibility to reject it. “But it’s not clear if they will.” (END)

For more background, see Forum 18’s Russia religious freedom survey at
, and Uzbekistan
religious freedom survey at
.

Analysis of the background to Russian policy on “religious extremism” is
available in two articles: – ‘How the battle with “religious extremism”
began’ (F18News 27 April 2009
– and – ‘The battle
with “religious extremism” – a return to past methods?’ (F18News 28 April
2009 ).

A personal commentary by Irina Budkina, Editor of the
Old Believer website, about continuing denial of
equality to Russia’s religious minorities, is at F18News 26 May 2005
.

A personal commentary by Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of the SOVA Center
for Information and Analysis , about the
systemic problems of Russian anti-extremism legislation, is at F18News 19
July 2010 .

For a personal commentary by a Muslim scholar, advocating religious freedom
for all as the best antidote to Islamic religious extremism in Uzbekistan,
see .

Reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia can be found
at , and
reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Uzbekistan can be
found at
.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
.

A printer-friendly map of Russia is available at
,
and a printer-friendly map of Uzbekistan is available at
.
(END)

 © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
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