Naumkin_V_-_Islam_i_musulmane_kultura_i_politika_2008

er, the flow of Islamists from one organization to another is quite common. Rather than attesting to the proximate positions of these organizations, it suggests quite the opposite: that the Islamic radical was dissatisfied with the HTI's moderation and opted for an organization directly aiming at armed struggle.

Beyond any doubt, the Tahriris entertained contacts with all the radical Islamist movements, including those who engaged in terrorist activity. The Uzbekistan police possess information that in FebruaryMarch 2002, one of the HTI coordinators for the CIS countries sent several emissaries to Tajikistan to meet representatives of Usama bin Ladin and the Taliban movement, ostensibly in order to apprise them of the HTI's support for their actions. In Tajikistan, such information has not been confirmed. In fact, one of the operatives of the local law enforcement agencies expressed doubt as to the necessity of such a mee t- ing for the HTI, even if it really supported bin Ladin and the Taliban.

There would be more grounds to rank the HTI among aggressive jihadists, if a corresponding position had been expounded in its documents. However, HTI statements are either contradictory or, as the Tahriris themselves assert, fabricated revelations of their “jihadist choice.” The aforementioned article on the “general principles of self-sacrifice,” published in the HTI periodical al-Wa'y, is an example of the contradictory type.

The HTI after September 11

As was discussed in chapter 2, after September 11, the Central Asian governments, having allied themselves with the United States and other Western countries in the struggle against terrorism, sharply stepped up repression of Islamic radicals, who also lost a significant part of the assistance that they had been receiving from abroad.

Despite the repressive measures taken by the state, in 2001–2002 Hizb at-Tahrir leaders and supporters continued and even intensified their agitation and propaganda activity among the population. In particular, after the start of the antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan in Oc- tober-November 2001, and in connection with events in the Middle East, in April and early May 2002 they distributed religious extremist leaflets with an anti-American, anti-Israeli, and anti-Karimov slant. Distribution occurred in Uzbekistan, especially in densely populated regions, in crowded places such as markets, in the buildings of minis-

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tries and departments, and also in the diplomatic missions of foreign countries and organizations accredited in Central Asia. The literature appealed for support for the Arabs of Palestine and jihad against the United States, Israel, and the Ka-rimov regime. The leaflets had mostly been produced in Uzbekistan, and during the last months of 2002 there was evidence of their being distributed through the Internet and by subsequent photocopying.

In Tajikistan, four activists of the HTI were detained and condemned in October 2002 in the cities of Dushanbe and Khujand for complicity in the distribution of such leaflets. Earlier, in April and the beginning of May 2002, six leaflet distributors were detained for similar activity in the same cities.

Based on evidence from the law enforcement bodies of the Central Asian republics, a meeting was held between representatives of the qi- ya-dat and functionaries from the republics of Central Asia in the town of Urumqi of the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in March 1992 (the preceding meeting of re p- resentatives of the qiyadat of the Hizb at-Tahrir and their functionaries in Central Asia took place on September 25, 2001, in Bishkek, in which Al-Salai Muhammad, a Jordanian national who is one of the HTI coordinators for the CIS countries, took part). One of the topics of discussion in Urumqi was how to intensify the religious propaganda activity of the local Tahriris, given the increased determination and coordination on the part of world powers to curb the activity of religious extremists. One outcome of the meeting was that a Kyrgyz citizen, Muhammadyusuf Ma-masadykov, b. 1973, a native and resident of Osh, was appointed leader of the Hizb at-Tahrir in the Central Asian region.

In government circles of the republics of Central Asia, there was a consensus that the religious and political situation in these republics had become aggravated after the meeting of Tahriri leaders in the PRC. In particular, the Tahriri functionaries in Uzbekistan mobilized to identify National Security Service and the Interior Ministry operatives who are directly in charge of combating religious extremism, in order to be able to take repressive measures against them after the installation of a theocratic state in the territory of Uzbekistan. On August 16, 2002, Kyrgyz police exposed the illegal activity of clandestine Tahriri cells in the Bazar-Qurghan district of the Jalal-Abad region. In particular, in the houses of Tukhtakhanov and Tukhtasinov, Tahriri leaders and native residents of the village of Arslanbob in Jalal-Abad, authorities discovered and “legally documented” three live grenades, an unregistered

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small-caliber rifle, and 395 live cartridges, as well as a great number of extremist literature, leaflets, and audioand videocassettes issued by the Hizb at-Tahrir.

In the process, on the eve of the Kyrgyz Independence Day, Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies discovered a mined cache, allegedly containing a large consignment of weapons and ammunition that were to be utilized for carrying out sabotage and terrorist actions in Bishkek with the aim of destabilizing the sociopolitical situation in the republic. The governments of Central Asian republics made use of these facts to prove that the HTI had begun to actively prepare for terrorist activity.

In Uzbekistan, at the same time that the HTI had begun to pay more attention to the immediate concerns of the populations of Central Asian republics, materials prepared in the HTI's international centers and d e- voted to international problems continued to be circulated. This allows us to come to the following conclusions. First, the HTI in Uzbekistan continued to be an affiliate (though possibly with a high degree of autonomy) of the international HTI organization. Second, the HTI views the events in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq as instruments of political mobilization.

Events involving Iraq in the spring of 2003 occasioned the publication of several HTI materials. On March 20, 2003, the leaflet Answers to Questions120 was sent to Uzbekistan to help local HTI functionaries carry on work with rank-and-file members. As an example, I shall cite several questions and answers contained in the leaflet (translated from Uzbek).

On the same day, a leaflet with an appeal “Stop the crusade!” was circulated in Uzbekistan.121

Question: What happened in Baghdad? What is the cause of the U.S. entry into Baghdad and the surrender of the Iraqi guards without a fight?

Answer: In the mass media there are different versions of the disappearance of Saddam Hussein. Almost all of them are improbable. It should be noted that Saddam's power was held up by fear and diktat. The army and the people were backing Saddam as they were afraid of him. The guards were not sure if their President was alive or dead, and therefore they abandoned the war.

Saddam's warriors had no faith, therefore they could not battle as shahids. If they had had genuine faith, then, despite the death of their leaders, they, armed with their faith, would have fought to the end, to victory or death.

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Question: Why does the USA threaten Syria? Is not the Syrian government a U.S. underling?

Answer: Earlier America had given its underlings room to maneuver and had not demanded open expression of submission. Presently, the USA is demanding from its underlings an open form of submission.

If Syria does not hold talks with Israel, as the USA demands, does not cease its attempts at putting pressure on the east coast of the Lake of Tiberias, and does not persecute the so-called undesirable patriotic organizations, the probability of U.S. forces entering Syria to subdue the region is great.

Should Syria not make an open display of submission, the USA will look for other stooges in the region, ones that will accept its demands without demur.

Syria demands room for maneuver; while secretly being a U.S. underling the Syrian authorities are making a sham display of resistance to the USA for domestic consumption. However, the USA is demanding open submission from Syria, and therefore threatening it.

Assessing the events taking place in Iraq, its authors call the United States and Britain “invaders of Islamic states” and their actions “the fourth crusade against the Muslims.” They call on Muslims to overthrow the governments of states backing the United States and Britain, as well as certain Islamic states that, instead of rebuffing the Americans in the name of jihad, lend them assistance by giving them access to their territories and military bases.

Furthermore, the leaflet points out that U.S. President George W.

Bush allegedly started “a war against Muslims” on September 16, 2001, with the words: “the American people begins to understand this crusade.”

An additional leaflet was called A Call by the Hizb at-Tahrir – Only with the Caliphate Will You Achieve Victory!122 Addressing themselves to Muslims, the authors call on them to strive toward the creation of a worldwide Caliphate. In particular, they point out that every aggression against Muslims ends in favor of the invaders.

You are being humiliated by America, Britain, Russia and even India. The Jews together with other states, great and small, occupy the territories of Afghanistan, as before they did Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, and now you are being humiliated in Iraq. You have tried various forms of government: kingdom, republic, hoping to achieve well-being. However, you are being deprived of all benefits, including your material and human potential.

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And is it not time to create a Caliphate as the only way out of this darkness?” The writers appeal to all Muslims to help the Hizb at -Tahrir and urge them to visit the HTI's website.123

International problems continued to be the object of HTI attention after the end of the military campaign in Iraq as well. Thus a leaflet dated May 24, 2003, reads:

Propaganda in favor of the Caliphate remains a high-priority task

for

In view of the fact that America is the leader in the international arena, it was able to justify its aggression against Iraq as a just cause. With this act, the USA brought the world back to an era of “might makes right” and the laws of the jungle. The USA forced the UN Security Council to pass Resolution 1483 of May 22, 2003, which conferred a stamp of legitimacy on the U.S. and British takeover of Iraq.

A person analyzing developments in the world and, in particular, in the countries of the Islamic belt can see that the USA, having become the sole leader on the international arena, steers policy in any direction it deems necessary. If one is to take note of the events taking place in the world and particularly in the countries of the Islamic world, one may point out the following:

1.Being the founder of the UN after World War II, America is using this organization to adopt laws and decisions justifying its geopolitical encroachments and international conspiracies.

2.The USA has become complacent as a result of its power and might. For this reason, it has ceased to take account of the interests of other countries should they run counter to U.S. interests. It does not recognize international treaties where interests of the USA are not placed above those of others: for fear of inquiry into the crimes of its soldiers, the USA has refused to sign a treaty on the creation of an organization to investigate war crimes. Moreover, the USA opposes inte r- national laws; so that goods imported from Europe cannot compete on its internal market with American goods, it has imposed customs duties on European commodities.

3.America has begun to seek the condemnation of the countries of the Islamic belt on the basis of standards that it has invented by itself. The unexpectedly easy conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq has served as an impetus for this. Having damaged Muslim unity, the USA has started to make plans to fragment their countries. The events in Afghanistan and Iraq are a confirmation of this. The way for this is being paved by politicians expatiating upon the extension of the line of security on the

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Arabian Peninsula, the war on terrorism, women's rights, and the modernization of curricula that give rise to “extremist ideas.”

4.The rulers of Muslim countries have thrown the problems of the umma into the American basket and entrusted America with the solution of 99 percent of their problems. The USA is resolving problems in favor of the umma's enemies, first of all distracting their attention with the seizure of Muslim lands in 1967, as well as on the basis of the Road Map of Tenet and Mitchell on the Palestinian problem, the Cyprus and Greece plan, the Machakos treaty for South Sudan, and also UN resolutions on Kashmir. And they intend to settle the Chechen issue jointly with Russia. The USA has overrun Central Asia and the Caucasus, and now Afghanistan and Iraq. This is not to speak of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf.

5.Other countries are unable to save the world from American expansion ism. There are several reasons for this, and we shall cite but a few:

a) Such countries as France, Germany, and Russia, who do have influence on the world arena, themselves stand for a capitalist system advocated by America.

b) China, which is developing along a noncapitalist path, is infl u- enced by its mentality. Therefore, for China, the development of its own system is more important than the outrages unleashed upon the world by America.

c) America fears the unification of the European Union but has achieved its collapse in three ways:

1.EU enlargement through the incorporation of the countries of Eastern Europe. These countries, being dependent on America, have become a spearhead that has ushered in America's influence within the European Union. This was noticeable when they supported America's invasion of Iraq.

2.The continued existence of NATO despite the demise of the Warsaw Treaty.

3.Britain's position. It does not wish to merge into a single union with the European states and become “dissolved” in that union like Luxembourg. Britain still lives in the euphoria of a “great power.” Thus it contributes to the weakening of Europe, and as a result, no country can face up to America.

Hey, Muslims!

This deed is within your powers. The key is the creation of a state under the name of the Caliphate.

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Only the Caliphate can throw America and Britain from the international arena, face up to America's dominance on the world arena, and free the world from America's atrocities.124

The HTI

Another leaflet, entitled Victory Will Come with the Caliphate, dated April 13, 2003, says (translation from Uzbek):

Help Allah and observe Shari'a. It is then that you will establish the Caliphate and be victorious. Should not the words of the Prophet be borne out: “He who will die without having come to believe will die an ignoramus”?

Swear an oath to the Caliphate, for with it alone will you save you r- selves from ignorant death; with it will you be able to fight and defend yourselves. “The imam championing it is able to fight and with it to save himself.”

You, the army and the mighty people?! Your blood is on the wrong track; instead of the pointless and godless existence, do you not wan t to be pure along the path of Allah?

Should you too not keep to the path along which the Prophet found refuge for himself, helped people, and converted his peoples to Islam? Help Allah and his Prophet to establish the Caliphate, for in this righteous way our people will again become the people of Islam. It is then that your service to Allah will turn into shining pages.

Only the Caliphate will save you from dishonor and humiliation. It has all the means to restore respect for you. It is the regime that Allah, master of the worlds, prescribed, having linked all the victories to it.

Only with the Caliphate will you be able to pay them back for the aggression in Iraq, for the fact that children have joined the war, and for the flesh-creeping terror that has filled their ingenuous faces and pure hearts.125

The HTI's new upsurge of interest in international problems and criticism of the foreign policies of Central Asian regimes drew fresh accusations that the HTI is a mouthpiece for international radical Isla m- ist forces. The Uzbek authorities made new statements characterizing the HTI as an organization hostile to Uzbekistani national interests, set up and supported from abroad. Iran, understanding the notion of “abroad” as a reference to itself, denied complicity in rendering any kind of assistance to the HTI. As early as May 1998, the state-run Iran Radio criticized the president of Uzbekistan for suppressing Muslims, saying that he did not differentiate between “Islamic extremists” and “Islamic reformists.”126 In this way, Tehran was responding to Kari-

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mov's cool and critical policy toward Iran, which Tashkent accused of supporting the Islamist forces.

Though there is no doubt that the HTI maintains broad foreign links, the degree to which HTI activity in Central Asia is financed from abroad has thus far remained an open question. “Many people believe that foreign money is behind our activities,” said an HTI member in hujand. “This view is mistaken. Our struggle is funded primarily from local sources. You cannot imagine how many people donate money to fund us.”127 I am sure that in the latter statement there is an enormous share of exaggeration.

The primary source of financing for Tahriri activity is widely believed to be membership dues. Every member of the party is obligated to make a monthly payment to the party treasury (tabarru'at). The size of the payment depends on the member's property and income (5 to 20 percent). In addition to the membership dues, the Tahriris receive financial backing from the so-called mu'ayyids (sympathizers) and ansar (helpers). These are not members of the Hizb at-Tahrir, and they do not take a direct part in “active measures” such as recruitment of new members, the circulation of leaflets, and participation in what are referred to as ochik da'wats. However, they render material and other aid to the Tahriris (for instance, they make available their apartments and homes for classes, meetings, and refuge for wanted Tahriris). Each Tahriri has to recruit ansar and mu'ayyids whose identities he alone knows.

Despite the constant growth of alarmist reports on HTI activity, many questions remain unanswered. Has the HTI at present identified new objectives, and has it changed its views concerning the means to achieve them? How do the activities of various HTI religious organizations differ? Is there evidence of the party's alliance with other Islamic organizations or at least of coordinated action? Who makes up the party's social base in various countries, and what place does the “national” agenda (say, the Kashmiri problem) occupy in the HTI's program? Some members of the mass media have claimed that during a meeting that took place in Tehran in June 2003 between the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran, the question of Tehran's terminating support for the HTI and the radical Islamic movements in Central Asia was raised. However, official sources have not confirmed that there was ever any mention of this topic. Moreover, there is no evidence that Tehran supports the HTI; in fact, it is unlikely that a Shi'ite Islamic state would support a Caliphatist Sunni movement based on the idea of vilayat-e faqih.

Since September 11, the HTI has been increasingly and more persistently accused of allying itself with Islamic militant organizations. According to

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a British consultant, “there are already indications that some Hi b at-Tahrir cells, for example, have begun to engage in the drug trade and have sought to establish links to the IMU.”12S In contrast to these accusations, there is no evidence that supports the HTI's alleged drift toward militancy, and the party has for a long time remained legal in most Western countries, despite calls from Uzbekistan to ban it. In early 2003, Germany was the first European state to ban the HTI for distributing anti-Semitic tracts.129

Many Western human rights organizations appealed to President Kari-mov to show tolerance and not to persecute a party that has renounced the use of force in realizing its political goals. Still, many of those arrested in Uzbekistan, according to ICG interviews, belong to the HTI. At the same time, there have also been arrests of certain individ u- als who have a general interest in certain Islamic teachings, even when they have no relation to any radical political program, as in the case of the Turkish mystic philosopher Bediuzzin Said Nursi (1873–1960).130

There have been even more cases in which the accusation of membership in the HTI has been used to oppress individuals who have criticized the government. On February 18, a court in Tashkent sentenced the journalist Ghaizat Mekhliboev to seven years in prison on charges of anticon-stitutional activities (article 159), involvement in religious extremist organizations (articles 216 and 244–2), and inciting religious hatred (article 156).131 His publications in the local press allegedly contained HTI ideas. Mekhliboev admitted his knowledge of HTI ideology, but denied any possession of HTI material, which is considered illegal in Uzbekistan. This sentence was interpreted by human rights organizations as a sign of the authorities' intolerance of criticism.

An amnesty in Uzbekistan was announced in December 2002, and a number of religious prisoners were released, but we can hardly suggest that this represented a shift toward a more tolerant position with respect to the Islamists. All Central Asian governments continue to be afraid of the HTI, and they believe it poses the utmost danger to their secular r e- gimes, thus exaggerating its potential effects.

A change in the position of international actors

The shift in the policy of many of the world's states toward the HTI, represented by its being listed as a terrorist organization in 2003, has made it easier for Central Asian governments to combat radical Islam and the Islamic opposition in general.

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A ban imposed on the party in Russia in February 2003 was largely dictated by the wish to accommodate Islam Karimov. The implication was that the ban would be followed by repressive measures against the HTI. On June 10, the Russian authorities announced that they had launched a crackdown against the HTI in Moscow. The Federal Security Service (FSB) had arrested fifty-five leaders and members of the Moscow HTI group and found plastic explosives, hand grenades, dyn a- mite, and detonator cords at their headquarters. FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said in an interview: “We have no doubts or illusions about their actions. We had intelligence information about their preparations. They were training fighters to send to Chechnya.” Ignatchenko also accused members of the HTI group of providing support for possible ter-

rorist acts in Moscow–calling them the “Muslim brothers” of alQa'ida.132 The arrested leader and members of the HTI had come to

Moscow from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to escape local government repression. The authorities did not disclose any details about them, but announced that among those arrested were Al-isher Musaev, head of the Moscow HTI branch, and Akram Dialov, a leading HTI activist. This significant shift in Moscow's position toward the HTI coincided with a similar turn in Washington's position. This suggests that Moscow's and Washington's policies were probably coordinated.

According to mass media sources in Pakistan, Pakistani authorities had been receiving “some advice” from Washington to place restrictions on the HTI. It was understood that “the advice came in response to reports that the Hizb has been inciting public opinion against the US and the Musharraf administration” at gatherings and through the distribution of handbills, pamphlets, and other literature.133 A number of arrests had been made in Pakistan on numerous occasions, and Pak i- stani agencies had begun infiltrating HTI meetings and making an effort “to learn about its structure and aims.”

The HTI is believed to have appeared in Pakistan in late 2000. In early 2001, Hizb at-Tahrir members opened a branch and a print shop in Peshawar whose tasks included designing Islamic ideological strategy that is destined to be carried over to Central Asian states from Pakistani territory. For their political purposes in Pakistan, the Tahriris employ such religious groups as Jamiat-e Ulema-e Islami.

In fact, the Pakistani authorities have let it be understood that the campaign against the HTI is connected exclusively with its anti -U.S. agenda, and not with convincing evidence concerning its participation in terrorist activity, a question that still remains murky. Earlier, Pres i-

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