IRPP News: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia

 
Reporter arrested in Baku for insulting Prophet Muhammad (2006-11-16)
Baku, November 16, Interfax

 Political commentator Rafik Tagi and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Senet, Samir Sadagatoglu, have been arrested in Baku for insulting the Prophet  Muhammad. "Both were accused of instigating ethnic, racial and religious enmity using their office, and  will spend two months in a detention facility," spokesman for the Prosecutor General's Office Vugar Aliyev told Interfax on Thursday, adding that the arrests were made under a court warrant. The case was investigated by the Department for Serious Crimes, the Prosecutor General's Office  said.
The newspaper Senet carried Tagi's article insulting the Prophet Muhammad on November 1.
An unauthorized rally was held in the village of Nardaran outside Baku in protest against the  publication. The protestors demanded a death sentence for both Tagi and Sadagatoglu.

Eleven Islamists suspects detained in Kazakhstan (2006-11-16)
Stepnogorsk, November 16, Interfax

 Eleven terrorist suspects have been detained in the city of  Stepnogorsk in the Akmola district of central Kazakhstan, Stepnogorsk Prosecutor Sergey Kim told Interfax on Thursday. The suspects were apprehended in the course of an operation against terrorism and religious  extremism, he said. A resident of the Akmola region "formed a terrorist group of Wahhabi radicals with the goal of forming an Islamic Khalifate on the territory of Kazakhstan and subverting the territorial integrity and security of this country," he said.

Tyumen police bust Hizb ut-Tahrir cell (2006-11-16)
Tyumen, November 16, Interfax

 Law enforcement services in the Tyumen region have broken up a cell of the Hizb ut-Tahrir international religious extremist organization. Two leaders of the cell, which was made up of local residents, have been arrested, another member  has been released after giving a written pledge not to leave the region, and four people have not  been charged yet, the region prosecutor's senior assistant Mikhail Kapeko told Interfax on  Thursday. "This cell was the successor of Hizb ut-Tahrir's structure which was liquidated in the Tyumen  region in 2005. They were engaged in promoting the organization's ideology. They were reading extremist books, discussing the idea of establishing a united Muslim caliphate and recruiting new supporters. The organization was eliminated before it had a chance to begin plotting any  terrorist attacks," he said. The cell's two leaders are middle-aged residents of Tyumen with a higher education. They used to work as engineers at various plants. The cell's other members are students from Tobolsk and Yarkovo. "Some of them have agreed to cooperate with the investigation," Kapeko said. The Federal Security Service's branch for the Tyumen region is investigating the cell's activities. The prosecutor's office is to forward its charges against the suspects to court before the end of the year, he said.


Source:  The Institute on Religion and Public Policy