Press Release

Sentencing of Three Members of Hizb ut Tahrir in St Petersburg with Sentences from the Stalin Era

(Translated)

The Moscow military district court sentenced two members of Hizb ut Tahrir, Karim Ibrahimov and Ildar Ramadanov, to 16 and 17 years imprisonment with hard labour in accordance to Part 1 of the Article 205.5 (Organising activities of a terrorist organisation. As for Ilyas Kagirov, he was sentenced to 5 years in accordance to Part 2 of Article 205.5 (Participating in activities of a terrorist organisation).

 As had been expected, the investigators did not even attempt to provide evidences of a relationship between the Shabab with any terrorist act. From one angle, this would be impossible because Hizb ut Tahrir is a political Islamic party and not a military one. From another angle, the practical reality of prosecution and investigation in Russia finds it enough that somebody is found to be affiliated to our party in order to be accused of “terrorism”. This is exactly what happened because according to the investigation, the sentenced had organised a general meeting for reading books and studying global events, that they published videos on internet social media forums which included a Da’wah (call) made to the residents, round table discussions and meetings about different daily issues that relate to the Muslims and society in general. The court considered this sufficient of a basis to accuse them of terrorism and sentence the innocent Muslims with lengthy sentences.

 Ildar Ramadanov openly stated that his case was fabricated and demanded that all of the false charges be lifted from him and from the other Muslims who were to be tried under the same charges. Karim Ibrahimov admitted that he was affiliated to Hizb ut Tahrir and rejected all of the other charges directed against him. The court supported the investigators and prosecutors and was vengeful against the Muslims due their stances by giving them sentences from the Stalin era.

 Russia has proven many times over that it is weak before the carriers of the Islamic Da’wah. However, it will not escape from punishment forever because it is the fate of every criminal to meet his just deserves. As for our beloved brothers, then we give them glad tidings of the promise of Allah Ta’Aalaa:

﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّـهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ﴾

“Verily, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah" and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], "Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised.” [Al-Fussilat: 30].

 The blatant reality is that the security agencies are trying their hardest to show that a “terrorist threat” exists when they are prosecuting Hizb ut Tahrir. Consequently, the media outlets, from early morning, were broadcasting details of a security operation in St Petersburg which led to the death of four people “representatives of a terrorist organisation” in a high rise building on Lenin Street. Many eyewitnesses raised doubt about the details of the operation indicating numerous contradictions within the official statements. (Like this) the security agencies have generated a reverberation within the society for cases related to Hizb ut Tahrir.

 The amount of news repeatedly broadcasted on every occasion is needed by the government to divert the attention of the people away from the oppression that they practise against our Shabab. We remind you that the news of the sentencing of the Shabab in February of this year had brought forth despicable lies by stating that those being tried had come to kill Ja’far Bunstayev the Mufti of St Petersburg who had actually died of natural causes in 2012.

 Then there was the sentencing of two others in this case, Sergei Pablokov and Roman Ivanov, where the trial was completed upon the backdrop of the arrest of dozens in Moscow from the followers of ISIS. It was then reported on the following day that those arrested were regular migrants whilst the media had been strongly talking non-stop about a “terrorist threat on the 30^th and 31^st of March 2016, when the sentencing was being pronounced”!

Based upon this we draw the people’s attention to the “correspondence and timing” of these events. This is in the case where the security agencies attempt to connect Hizb ut Tahrir to terrorism for the sake of “justifying” the persecution of its members. It is not in the interest of the agencies for the fabrication of these cases to be made clear which by their nature are designed to divert the attention of the Muslims and lead them to ask a number of questions, and particularly the question of why the Muslim members of Hizb ut Tahrir are being sentenced for such lengthy sentences?!

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

in Russia