In Kyrgyzstan, followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir became more active

In Bazar-Korgon, a student from Bishkek distributed extremist materials of the religious movement “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, which is banned in Kyrgyzstan.

As it became known, the 18-year-old girl is a second-year student at the International University in Bishkek. The student was detained; a criminal case was instituted.

“The girl had 54 books in Arabic and notebooks. During the check of her mobile phone, it turned out that she spread the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir from a fake account under the nickname Mukhsinbek Mubinov. An examination has been appointed,” the Office of Internal Affairs said.

Earlier, the State Committee for National Security of the Republic also informed that during the search operations in Bishkek, the head of the religious extremist organization (REO) “Hizb ut-Tahrir” was a citizen of one of the neighboring republics, who coordinated the activities of underground cells of the REO in Kyrgyzstan.

The expert on religious extremism Orozbek Moldaliev in the interview with ACCA noted that Hizb ut-Tahrir has again intensified its activities in Kyrgyzstan.

“The appearance of leaflets is a new phenomenon. It is unclear why this should be done when today even every student has a mobile phone. This revolution in the information field, which has occurred in recent years, plays into their hands. They act through WhatsApp and Telegram messengers,” Moldaliev said. “I think this is primarily due to the lack of educational work. In 2010, we began to introduce religious studies at schools. Ideology must be fought with ideology. Nobody has defeated it by force. However, all good undertakings fade quickly. For example, we couldn’t continue this work this year, postponed it until the next year. There is no explanatory work, and again we see these flyers. It is very serious.”

Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan continues to actively deradicalize members of terrorist and extremist organizations serving sentences in prisons.

Convicted in April 2019 to 3 years of imprisonment under the article 243 “Participation of Kyrgyzstan’s citizen in armed conflicts or military operations on the territory of a foreign state or undergoing terrorist training”, a citizen of Osh region voluntarily renounced radical beliefs.

“She, regretting, fully recognized the fallacy, futility and utopianism of this ideology, and also urged the country’s population, especially young people, to beware of the negative influence of the ideology of the above religious extremist organization and not get involved in its activities,” the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic said.