Uzbekistan: Muslim Trial Under Scrutiny

The trial of eleven members of the Jamaat Tabligh Islamic group has been unexpectedly postponed amid condemnation from human rights groups who claim that the authorities are going too far in their quest to stamp out extremism.

Activists claim that as preliminary hearings have apparently failed to establish just what the detained men are supposed to have done wrong, the delay until October 17 has been forced because the Uzbek courts are at a loss as to what to charge them with.

Tolib Yakubov, a civil rights campaigner, told IWPR that the prosecutions were a result of Uzbekistan’s drive to stamp out religious extremism, which he described as ineffectual and damaging.

“They have already [imprisoned] all those who actively practiced Islam, so now they have began to take the peaceful ones, too,” he claimed. “The truth is that no one really cares about the fate of these eleven defendants, only about perpetuating the myth of a terrorist threat.”

The defendants, all Andizhan residents aged between 25 and 65 years of age, deny any wrongdoing. They argue that they preach a peaceful Islamic message and point out that the main principle of their organisation - which some accused freely admit membership of - is to abstain from politics.

Dilshod Yusupov, whose brother Utkirbek Yusupov is among those facing trial, said that his brother was guilty only of praying five times a day and that if he had been detained “they must arrest all faithful Muslims who go to a mosque” as well.

The prosecution maintains that Jamaat Tabligh’s members are in breach of Article 244 of the Uzbek criminal code – creation of a religious extremist or banned organisation or participation in or acting as leader of such a group. As such, they could face up to 12 years in jail if convicted.

But human rights activists observing the proceedings claim that neither investigators nor prosecutors have been able to provide the corpus delicti – essence of the crime – the defendants have allegedly committed, or even explain what they are believed to be guilty of.

Lutfulla Shamsiddinov, the Andizhan representative of the Independent Organisation for Human Rights in Uzbekistan, told IWPR, “The hearings still haven’t made it clear what illegal actions these people are alleged to have committed.”

Concerns have also been raised that recent comments from the republic’s president Islam Karimov could inflame the situation.

While discussing the alleged involvement of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation in a spate of bomb attacks that rocked Tashkent earlier this year, Karimov noted that the influence of Jamaat Tabligh was growing in Uzbekistan.

“If we don’t fight terrorism, there will be increasingly more such organisations,” he said ominously.

Jamaat Tabligh - which roughly translates as “the group that explains” - began to spread in Andizhan several years ago but analysts estimate that it has at most 50 members across the region.

Moreover, they point to the group’s apolitical nature and note that its teachings include the importance of obedience to the authorities as well as the importance of living as a faithful Muslim who prays and studies Islam.

One imam from an Andizhan mosque, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IWPR that Jamaat Tabligh was a peaceful Sunni Muslim group, and that reports of its extremism were untrue.

“Members lead a very humble life, they don’t take donations and instead they study Islam, preach only in mosques and do not get involved in politics,” he said.

But Muhammad Bobur Yuldoshev, who sits on the Committee for Religious Affairs within the Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers, told IWPR that Jamaat Tabligh does indeed have political influence, albeit indirectly.

“When they demand that Friday is a day off or call on people to not work during the month of Ramadan, it is a direct interference with affairs of the state,” he said.

“Besides, the organisation insists that men grow a beard and that women wear headscarves, and that both propagate the ideas of Jamaat Tabligh - and that constitutes political activity.”

Human rights campaigner Lutfulla Shamsiddinov disagrees. “People are being brought to trial for studying Islam,” she said, describing it as a “gross violation” of civil liberties resulting from Islamophobia generated by the United States-led “war on terror”.

Malik Boboev and Matliuba Azamatova are IWPR contributors in Tashkent and Fergana.