Examples of investigations, sentences and trials

In Tajikistan – Central Asia

1 – A letter from the prison about the nature of the investigations and torture

I, Razakov Abd Rasul Abd Usattarovic, was born in 1960, and I am a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Tajikistan. On the morning of 1 February 2010 a group of men from the security forces entered my home. They searched the house and found some Islamic literature published by Hizb ut-Tahrir, so they took me, my wife, my 12-year old son, and a guest (Nimatullah) who were present with me. After verbally and physically abusing us, they took us all to the detention centre, where they put my wife and son in one cell, and put Nimatullah and me in another cell, and they beat us severely.

When they transferred us to the investigators they wanted us to inform them about the members of the Hizb so that they could arrest them. We did not inform them. They tied my hands to the bottom of the door and threw me on the floor.  Jalav, the head of the committee of torture, came with nine men and tortured me severely. After this, nine other men came and tied me to a bed and continued the torture in a savage manner without stopping all the way from the morning of the 1^st of  February to the noon of  the 2^nd of February.

My wife and I had been fasting. When Jalav found out that we were fasting, he verbally abused us with very obscene words and he hanged me on a pipe from the ceiling of the cell. They removed my clothes and began torturing me whilst I was hanging from the ceiling. They would beat with a whip on all parts of my body. Mercy had left the hearts of these criminals. Two of these savages tied my legs, each leg in a different direction and a third savage started beating me between the legs with a whip. They continued beating me from the noon of 2 February to the noon of 3 February, taking turns in torturing me whilst I hung from the ceiling. My entire body was blackened. The weather was cold and they would pour cold water on my head causing me to shiver from the severe cold, and my head was inflicted with unbearable pain.

Jalav came at noon on 3 February and found out that I had not given them what they wanted, so he ordered that I be laid on the bed and beaten on my legs and tortured with electricity. My hands and feet became paralysed.  They made me see Nimatullah who they had been torturing in another place.

On 4 February they transferred me to the interrogation cell. I saw my wife there and she told me secretly that they had tortured her and pulled her hair, and I found out from her that they had let my son go after holding him for one entire day.

[This is a letter which came from one of the prisons of Tajikistan, and this is the situation for most of the political prisoners in this country, and its neighbouring countries. Until when will these regimes last?!]

2- Examples of sentences given in the courts of Tajikistan

In the beginning of March 2011 the court in the North issued long prison sentences to 11 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir. These are:

• Hussein Warjanov for 20 years.
• Abdel-Khalek Mllaiov for 20 years, and he was in prison for 9 years prior to this because of his membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir.
• Habibullah Jorov for 18 years, and he was in prison for a long time before that’s also because of his membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir.
• Hashim Abdullaov for 15 years, and he was in jail before this too.
• Taher Mahmudjanov for 9 years.
• Muqim Babaganov for 9 years.
• Dilshad Mokhtarov for 10 years.
• Shawka Mohamadov for 13 years.
• Nabi Davlatov for a period of 13 years, he was director of the department of internal affairs in the past before he joined Hizb ut-Tahrir.
• Yousefjan Yousefjanov for 14 years.
• Nazim Aergoshov for 4 years.

3 – Trials in Tajikistan

Trials of eight members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, citizens of Tajikistan, began on 27 December 2010 in the Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. These eight were: Yusuf Jan Hafizov, Kamal Khan Salaheddinov, Sabir Abdel-Jan Alhamidov, Doltyar Kurbanov, Talib Norov, Salih Rahmanov, Ali Jan Yusufov, Abdul Rahman Karimov.

These men were arrested during 2010 on allegation of association with the ‘Islamic political, terrorist movement’ Hizb ut-Tahrir. There investigations ran from between five and nine months.  Everyone knows that Hizb ut-Tahrir is a political party that does not use violence. It carries the Islamic message through political and intellectual means, following the Messenger (saw) in his method of establishing the Islamic State. In spite of this, the investigators sought to link it to terrorism, and wanted each member to reveal details about other members in order to arrest them as well.

Thus the work of these investigators was not to find the truth, but was to forge false allegations and to extract information that met they purposes through severe torture. Thus the investigator Tashunayov Samradeen hid his name and said that his name was Rustum, and likewise the investigator Mirdayov Ilham hid his name. The accused, Talib Norov, said about these investigators: When these wolves imprisoned us in the cells of the security forces and tortured us severely for long hours, these investigators claimed that they were serving the truth and the security of the people!

The accused members said in front of the judge that what had been recorded by the investigators against them were lies forged by the investigators themselves. The judge asked them for witnesses. At this, one of the lawyers present said that he had gone to the prison to fulfill his duty during the investigation but had been told by the security forces that this matter had a political front and that he must not follow the matter seriously. Thus lawyers were prevented from interviewing the accused or being present during investigations.

One of the eight accused was not established to be a member of the Hizb, and the others said that they did not know him. The investigator brought another arrested man from the Hizb to testify against him. This witness said in the court: ‘This investigator pressured me and three of my relatives since yesterday in order that I give a false testimony against this man.’

One of the judges covertly admitted that the matter was not in their hands. He added, “Regardless of how the trial courts are, judgment on members of any Islamic political movements are determined by the higher courts based on order from higher up” that is, orders from the tyrant president.

Thus, based on orders from the tyrant, the court handed down against the eight accused sentences ranging from 6.5 to 18 years. Despite this, they are patient upon the truth, by the Will of Allah, and optimistic about a near relief, by the leave of Allah.

It is true that the Muslims of Tajikistan remain deprived of learning the Islamic disciplines, for known reasons. Nevertheless they possess strong Islamic sentiments, and they are now witnessing the uprisings in the Islamic lands against the tyrant rulers. They, in Tajikistan and the other Central Asian nations, are the people most in need of moving to remove their rulers, and to returning to Islamic rule.

The torture and repression exercised by the tyrants in Central Asia will never make the believers submit and leave their iman. Rather, it will hasten the end of these tyrants. Fir’awn, the tyrant of tyrants, too challenged the magicians who had affirmed belief in Musa, and this did naught but to strength the believers:

فَلأُقَطِّعَنَّ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ مِنْ خِلاَفٍ وَلأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِي جُذُوعِ النَّخْلِ وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ أَيُّنَا أَشَدُّ عَذَابًا وَأَبْقَى (•) قَالُوا لَنْ نُؤْثِرَكَ عَلَى مَا جَاءَنَا مِنَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالَّذِي فَطَرَنَا فَاقْضِ مَا أَنْتَ قَاضٍ إِنَّمَا تَقْضِي هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا (•) إِنَّا آمَنَّا بِرَبِّنَا لِيَغْفِرَ لَنَا خَطَايَانَا وَمَا أَكْرَهْتَنَا عَلَيْهِ مِنَ السِّحْرِ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى (•) إِنَّهُ مَنْ يَأْتِ رَبَّهُ مُجْرِمًا فَإِنَّ لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ لاَ يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلاَ يَحْيَى (•) وَمَنْ يَأْتِهِ مُؤْمِنًا قَدْ عَمِلَ الصَّالِحَاتِ فَأُولَئِكَ لَهُمُ الدَّرَجَاتُ الْعُلَى (•) جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَذَلِكَ جَزَاءُ مَنْ تَزَكَّى (•) سورة طه.

“…I will certainly cut off your hands and your legs from opposite sides, and will crucify you on the trunks of palm-trees, and you shall know whose punishment, out of us, is more severe and more lasting. They said, “We will never prefer you over the clear signs that have come to us, and over Him who has created us. So, decide whatever you have to decide. You will decide only for this worldly life. We have put our faith in our Lord, so that He forgives us for our sins and for the magic you compelled us to perform. And Allah is the Best and Everlasting. Surely whoever comes to his Lord as a sinner, for him there is Hell-fire in which he neither will die nor live. And whoever will come to Him as a believer, having done righteous deeds, for such people there are the highest ranks, the eternal gardens beneath which rivers flow, in which they shall live forever. That is the reward for the one who has purified himself.”(Taha:71-76)