Press Release
Russia Sentences Member of Hizb ut Tahrir, Abdul Kareem Tushmutov, to Prison for 17 Years
(Translated)

On 3/4/2014 Interfax Agency reported from the media office of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) stating, "The regional court of the city of Stavropol has sentenced a member belonging to the international terrorist organization Hizb ut Tahrir with the charge of planning attacks on the Maiskii festivities in 2013 in Stavropol. Abdul Kareem Tushmutov, who is a resident from Tajikistan, was convicted under the two Articles 205 and 30 from the first section of the Criminal Code. (For charges of terrorism, and involvement in the carrying out of crimes of terrorist nature or helping the perpetrators). He was sentenced to 17 years with hard labor, in addition to a fine of 55 thousand rubles".

This sentence against our brother Abdul Kareem does not come as a surprise to us, because the Russian government has long been waging an open war against Islam and Muslims, using diverse horrendous and barbaric tactics. It is not a secret that the authority in Russia has complete control over the penal system in the Kremlin; so whatever laws are issued are at the request of the authority in the Kremlin, which wants to eliminate anyone who declares the truth by describing the activities of the Dawah carriers as terrorism. In the beginning of 2014, the Duma adopted the outrageous laws that criminalize any political activity, no matter how peaceful, under the pretext of alleged terrorism, and that provide for imprisonment from 15-20 years.

The only criminal responsible for terrorism in Russia is the criminal regime in the Kremlin, and the evidence for this is almost incalculable. This including, but is not limited to, what happened to our brother, who was arrested on 13 September 2011 outside of a mosque in Moscow after his performance of the ‘Isha prayer. On 29 February 2011, he was sentenced to prison for a year, simply because he spoke at the Mosque and congratulated the Muslims for the month of Ramadan.

During this year, Russian security agents visited him in prison a number of times and asked him to cooperate with them and work with them as an informer, and he firmly and resolutely refused. After his release from prison, he was called on April 16, 2013 to the immigration and passport services in the city of Stavropol under the pretext of receiving paperwork, but there he was arrested. The Russian terrorist agency fabricated charges of terrorist activities against him. This was witnessed by Mr. Vitali Bunumarv from the Memorial Center for Rights in Moscow, who was on his part subject to threats against his personal safety as a result of his courageous stand in exposing the games of the Russian Security Bureau and its fabrication of terrorist charges against the Dawah carriers in Russia.

These Stalinist practices of the Kremlin authority expose the reality of the ruling regime's hostility to Islam and the Muslims. Hizb ut Tahrir pledges to Allah (swt) that it will not relent in its path of proclaiming truth and exposing falsehood. We are positive that Allah (swt) will grant us victory, Allah (swt) willing, despite the Muslim ruler's complicity and silence on the crimes of the tyrant of Moscow.

The Almighty said:

(وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ)

"And they resented them not except because they believed in Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy" [al-Buruj: 8]

The Central Media Office
of Hizb ut Tahrir