UZBEKISTAN: RECENT RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND TERRORISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TASHKENT 000497

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019-04-13
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KIRF KISL KWMN PGOV PINR PREL PTER SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: RECENT RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND TERRORISM
CONVICTIONS

REF: TASHKENT 55, TASHKENT 56, TASHKENT 277

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Fitzmaurice, Poloff; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) Summary: During a meeting at the Embassy on March 30,
independent human rights activist Ismoil Adilov handed over to
poloff a collection of court documents from recent trials he had
monitored involving suspected religious extremists. The documents
demonstrate that at least six women were imprisoned for membership
in the religious extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) in 2009, while
at least ten other women were given suspended sentences on the same
charges. Independent media outlets also reported that eight men
were imprisoned for membership in the terrorist Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan (IMU),while three additional individuals were recently
imprisoned for membership in the conservative Turkish religious
group Nur. End summary.



SIX WOMEN IMPRISONED FOR HT MEMBERSHIP IN TASHKENT

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2. (U) According to court documents, on February 4, the Tashkent
City Court sentenced three women - Mashkura Manapova, Shakhlo
Sultanova, and Gulnora Hakimova - to six years' imprisonment for
alleged membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). Eight other women were
convicted on the same charges, but were given three year suspended
sentences and released.




3. (C) In December 2008, relatives reported to poloff that
authorities had detained Shakhlo Sultanova and beat her and forced
her to watch a pornographic movie. While police were reportedly
attempting to elicit a confession from Shakhlo that her mother,
Severa Sultanova, was a HT member, her mother eventually confessed
that Shakhlo belonged to HT (ref A). The relatives also reported
that approximately ten other women involved in the same case had
confessed that Shakhlo was a member of HT. The fate of Severa
Sultanova is unknown.




4. (C) According to court documents, on December 28, 2008, the
Tashkent City Prosecutor S. Alayev indicted three women for
membership in the "women's wing" of HT: Rano Abzalova, Halida
Nurmatova, and Dono Gulombekova. Adilov, who monitored their
trial, reported that the women were eventually convicted and given
one-year prison terms. According to Adilov, the women admitted in
court reading the Koran, but denied that they were HT members. The
principal evidence against the women reportedly was the testimony
of three other individuals who had already been imprisoned for HT
membership.



OTHER WOMEN GIVEN SUSPENDED SENTENCES, INDICTED

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5. (U) According to court documents, two other women were given
suspended sentenced for alleged HT membership in January. On
January 7, the Tashkent City Criminal Court convicted two women -
Mohira Mukhamedova and Robiabonu Mirzahmedova - for membership in
the "women's wing" of HT. Mukhamedova was reportedly recruited
into HT by her husband, who was sentenced for HT membership in

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1999. Until 2008, Mukhamedova allegedly recruited other women into
HT in order to "overthrow the constitutional order and establish an
Islamic Caliphate."



TWO WOMEN PROSECUTED FOR HT MEMBERSHIP IN SURKHUNDARYA

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6. (U) On April 7, the state-controlled "Ozbekiston Ovozi"
newspaper reported that two sisters - Gulchehra and Gulbahor
Makhmadiyorova - from the town of Denov in Surkhundarya province
were prosecuted for membership in HT. During a search of their
home, police allegedly found banned HT literature. The newspaper
accused the women of failing to care for their families and
"wasting their lives having become the victims of alien ideas." It
noted that the women were "punished appropriately," but provided no
further details.




7. (U) Over the past year, several other women have been
prosecuted for HT membership in Denov. In 2008, state-controlled
newspapers reported that five women from Denov district were
imprisoned from three to six years for HT membership (ref B). It
is unknown whether any of these cases are connected.



ACTIVIST SHARES HIS VIEW ON RECENT HT CASES INVOVLING WOMEN

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8. (C) During his meeting with poloff on March 30, Adilov shared
his view on what is motivating the arrests. Noting that many of
those recently arrested were women, he argued that this was because
many male HT members have already been imprisoned over the years.
He also observed that many of the women were wives or relatives of
religious prisoners, which suggested to him that either the women
were actual HT members indoctrinated by their male relatives or
they were easy targets for police to fabricate charges against
them. In many cases, he noted that the principal evidence used
against the accused was testimony from individuals who had already
been imprisoned for HT membership.




9. (C) Comment: We generally agree with Adilov's observations. It
should also be noted that while some of the women prosecuted on
religious extremism charges were imprisoned, they generally
received shorter sentences than men who have been convicted of the
same charges, while other women were given suspended sentences. In
general, the Uzbek legal system is more forgiving of women who are
convicted of crimes than men. End comment.



SIX MEN INDICTED FOR MEMBERSHIP IN "WAHABBI" GROUP

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10. (U) According to court documents, on October 18, 2008, the

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Tashkent City Prosecutor S. Alayev indicted six men - Gulomjon
Zakirov, Murodjon Gapirov, Saidakmol Ishanbayev, Nodirjon
Muhammadsaid, Kamoliddin Akhundjanov, and Hojiakbar Sahdiyev - for
alleged membership in an extremist "Wahabbi" group. In 1997,
Zakirov was allegedly recruited by Imam Obid Nazarov into an
organization named "Sebzor Jamoat," reportedly a "Wahabbi"
religious extremist group and branch of the Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan (IMU) that was created by imams Abidkhan Nazarov,
Rukhitdin Fakhrutdinov, and Abduvali Mirzaev. Zakirov then
reportedly recruited the other men (all age 26 to 29) into the
group. Their current fate is unknown. The indictment was signed
by Tashkent City Interior Ministry Investigator S. Tadjibayev and
Tashkent City Interior Ministry Chief of Investigative Department
Major D. Mirsodikov.




11. (U) Over the years, the government has frequently used the
term "Wahhabi" to describe alleged followers of either Imam
Abduvali Mirzaev of Andijon, who disappeared in 1995, or Imam
Abidkhan Nazarov of Tashkent, who fled to Kazakhstan in 1998 to
avoid arrest and was granted refugee status by the UN High
Commission for Refugees and relocated to Europe in 2006. Imam
Rukhitdin Fakhrutdinov, an alleged follower of Nazarov, was
convicted of religious extremism and terrorism in connection with
the 2004 terrorist bombings in Tashkent and Bukhara and sentenced
to 17 years' imprisonment.



EIGHT SUSPECTED IMU MEMBERS IMPRISONED IN TASHKENT

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12. (U) On March 12, the Russian news agency Interfax reported
that the Tashkent City Criminal Court sentenced eight men to five
years' imprisonment each on religious extremism charges. The men
(age 27 to 44) lived in the same neighborhood and were allegedly
members of an "illegal group" led by Bakhtiyor Shukrullayev that
was linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Starting
about 10 years ago, the men allegedly met Shukhrullayev at a local
mosque, who claimed to be an Islamic expert and indoctrinated them
in extremist ideology. Shukhrullayev was earlier arrested in 2007.




UPDATE ON "NUR" CASES

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13. (U) A government crackdown continues against suspected members
of "Nur," a banned conservative (but not extremist) religious
organization associated with Turkish scholar Fethullah Gullen. On
April 10, Radio Free Europe's Uzbek-language Ozodlik.org website
reported that the Tashkent City Court had recently announced the
verdict against three individuals associated with the "YETI Iqlim"
newspaper (ref C). Two employees at the paper - journalist Davron
Tojiev and distributor Sahvkat Ismoilov - were sentenced to eight
years' imprisonment, while Namangan-based imam Mamadali
Shahobiddinov received 12 years' imprisonment.




14. (U) The independent Harakat.net website reported that on April

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1 the Tashkent City Criminal Court rejected the appeal of five
individuals associated with the "Irmoq" magazine - including
Abdulaziz Dadahanov, a UGRAD (university-level U.S. exchange
program) alumnus who studied in Connecticut - who were convicted of
Nur membership and received 8 to 12-year prison terms in February
(ref C). On April 9, Harakat.net also reported that five
additional individuals had been arrested on suspicion of Nur
membership - Ibrohim Khudoyberganov, Tal'at Pulatov, Jahongir
Qurbonov, and one unnamed "religious person."



COMMENT

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15. (C) While there appeared to be a leveling off in the sheer
number of religious extremism trials over the past year, these
cases highlight that such still trials continue at some level.
This may be part of the general crackdown on independent Muslims
groups which has been ongoing (with periodic waxing and waning)
since the late 1990s. We remain concerned that religious extremist
suspects frequently are abused in custody and denied due process.
Of the cases reported above, the only one in which we have received
specific allegations of abuse is that of Shakhlo Sultanova, though
it is possible (but we cannot confirm) that the other defendants
were abused. In the cases of the suspected Nur members, we are
concerned that authorities are imprisoning suspected members of a
conservative - but not extremist - religious organization. We also
continue to worry that Uzbek prisons, where large numbers of
suspected religious prisoners continue to be held, could serve as
breeding grounds of extremism.
BUTCHER