IRPP News Service: Kyrgystan, Ukraine, Tajikistan
 

Three Hizb ut-Tahrir members detained in Bishkek

2006-12-12, Bishkek, December 12, Interfax.  A secret center of the prohibited Hizb ut-Tahrir  organization has been unveiled and closed in Bishkek, the press service of the city police department announced on Tuesday. "Officers from the section for resisting religious extremism and illegal immigration stopped the operations of a secret center of the prohibited Hizb ut-Tahrir organization in the Ak-Tilek neighborhood and detained three members of the organization following a special operation," a press release says. The police seized 19 CDs, 234 leaflets and nine booklets containing extremist religious content. "Due measures are being conducted to identify other members of the organization and the channels of its funding," the press release says.

Ukraine to reform .religious. legislation as Council of Europe demands

 2006-12-12, Kiev, December 12, Interfax.  To carry out steps necessary for Ukraine to join the Council of Europe, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice has worked out a new project for amendments to the Law on the Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Organizations. ..The project provides for radical changes to be made to the law currently in force. It is proposed in particular to introduce a classification of religious organizations, to grant the status of legal entity to religious organizations and to extend to them the common civil legal capacity., the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has informed Interfax on Tuesday. The new legislation is also to permit an optional study of religious disciplines in state-run and community-run schools, to revoke the permission system for holding public worship services, to give students and employees the right to use a certain part of their working time for holding rites prescribed by their faith, to give equal social rights to students of religious and private educational institutions as well as to Ukrainians and visitors from  other countries in their religious activity in Ukraine. In addition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice plans to make amendments to the Land Code so that religious organizations may enjoy property rights and use land as permanent owners and to draft a bill on religious organizations. retrieval of nationalized property.

Ninety extremists detained in Tajikistan in 2006

2006-12-12, Dushanbe, December 12, Interfax. Ninety alleged members of various extremist organizations  have been detained in Tajikistan in 2006, deputy head of the department to counter organized  crime at the Tajik Interior Ministry Iskandar Rozikov told Interfax on Tuesday. "Fifty-six alleged members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir party, 30 alleged members of the Uzbek Islamic Movement, as well as four members of other extremist movements have been  detained in Tajikistan in 2006," he said. This number is eight (9.7%) higher that in January-November 2005, he said. "Extremists in Tajikistan have remained active," he said. "We do not speak about their activity; however, we believe that the work of the department in  the area has improved, resulting in an increase in the number of detentions," he said. "A total of 15,097 leaflets, 502 books, and 54 CDs containing extremist slogans have been  confiscated from Hizb ut-Tahrir members who are continuing to persist with their propaganda aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order in Tajikistan and neighboring countries since the beginning of the year," Rozikov said. The majority of Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been detained in the Sughd province, northern  Tajikistan, Rozikov said. The number of detentions of Uzbek Islamic Movement activists is also on the rise. The department prevented ten terrorist acts prepared by Uzbek Islamic Movement members in the  first eleven months of the year, he said.

 Source:          Institute on Religion and Public Policy News Service
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