Press Release
Putin's Defamation of Hizb ut Tahrir

On 10^th December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the first public statement about the international Islamic political party Hizb ut Tahrir. “This organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem from one of your colleagues, a judge of the Shariah court. In its statutory fundamental documents, it directly proclaims the need to create a Khilafah (Caliphate) by seizing power and promoting its ideas in various countries of the world, and the Russian state is no exception. This organization operates legally in many countries”, - he said at a meeting of the Human Rights Council in response to a statement by the well-known lawyer Yuri Kostanov, pointing out the unfounded condemnation of Hizb ut Tahrir members to up to 25 years in prison and the lack of evidence of Hizb ut Tahrir’s involvement in the terrorist attacks. In addition, Putin began to bring arguments prepared for him by the security services about the need to maintain the recognition of Hizb ut Tahrir as a terrorist organization. For example, he said that in Germany and in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, the organization was allegedly recognized as a terrorist organization, although it is well known that Russia is the only country in the world where Hizb ut Tahrir is recognized as a terrorist organization. However, he made further arguments saying, “The activities of this organization come down to the fact that it forbids members of their sect (so to speak) to convert to other religions, intervenes in private personal and family life, and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, there were serious consequences with the promotion of their ideas related to the fact that they prohibit, for example, blood transfusion. And they prevented blood transfusion for children who needed this procedure to save their lives. A recent tragic incident occurred in the Russian Federation in Kabardino-Balkaria last year. The child was dead. Where help was given to the adherents of this church, this movement, so to speak, forcibly, they managed to save the children there”, - Putin concluded emotionally to the surprised listeners. “Once again I want to say that this decision was adopted by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in full compliance with the law in force in Russia, and therefore is necessary for execution.”

Although we in Hizb ut Tahrir are not looking for the contentment of tyrants in Muslim countries and leaders of countries of Kufr (disbelief), it should be noted that in fact none of them had the insolence to blame Hizb ut Tahrir for the so-called “terrorism”, because it is well known that our party is not waging a power struggle. Because Putin, by his lie that Russia allegedly only followed Germany and the SCO countries in recognizing Hizb as a terrorist organization, only humiliates himself, and does not denigrate Hizb ut Tahrir.

We want to emphasize that the discussion of the blatant injustice and the inhuman sentences to which members of Hizb ut Tahrir are sentenced has reached such a high level in Russia that the security services, expecting this question to be raised at a meeting of the Human Rights Council, have prepared such a false response for Putin, almost entirely consisting of fraud and forgery. Putin called our party a church and accused the party of banning blood transfusions, apparently confusing Hizb ut Tahrir and the Jehovah's Witnesses Church. Whether it was a deliberate misrepresentation by the Federal Security Service (FSB) or an accidental mistake by Putin - all this only once again demonstrates the complete absence of any discussions for accusing the Hizb of the so-called “terrorism” among the FSB and Putin.

Whatever the power in Russia, its constant is the anti-Islamic policy within the state and beyond. Today, special services are the sovereign masters of the country, and, accordingly, they are the main instigators of the struggle against Islam and its revival. It is also noteworthy that, pursuing an anti-Islamic policy under the guise of combating terrorism, special services strengthen their positions and gain access to the country's budget, i.e. they are driven not only by the hatred of Islam, but also by a thirst for power and greed.

Russia is afraid of Islam, because for centuries, it waged wars of occupation and seized many Islamic lands, which it now seeks to preserve. And if earlier Russia pursued a policy of Christianization, persecution, killings of those who embraced Islam and exiled them, today it deprives Muslims of their liberty on the false pretenses and fabricated charges. The Russian authorities feel concerned about the 20 million Muslims in Russia, they want these people to forget their destiny and their great culture, to integrate and faithfully serve the “Russian Tsar”. Therefore, this statement by Putin and his implacable struggle against Hizb ut Tahrir are only a continuation of the barbarous war against Islam that the Russian state has been waging for centuries. Today, the Kremlin cannot legislatively ban Islam in the country, and therefore lies about the danger of a terrorist threat, including from Hizb ut Tahrir, because it is in the members of our party that they see the threat of the return of Muslim peoples to their core ideology - Islam.

Russia will not be able to drown the light of truth neither by its repressions, nor by its lies, nor by its cunning schemes or tricks! It tortures Muslims in Siberia, in the Volga region, in the Ural Mountains, in the Caucasus, they kill Muslims in Syria and Libya, just as they and their predecessors have killed Muslims in Chechnya and Afghanistan! Allah allows them to commit their atrocities only until a certain time, after which they will certainly regret their crimes against Muslims and Allah will surely put everything in its place.

Allah Almighty says:

[وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ اللَّهَ غَافِلًا عَمَّا يَعْمَلُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ تَشْخَصُ فِيهِ الْأَبْصَارُ]

“And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them for a Day when eyes will stare [in horror]” [14:42].

The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir