KHUJAND, November 10, 2009, Asia-Plus -- Another resident of Sughd’s Isfara district has been detained on suspicion of having contacts with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

According to the Sughd police directorate, the 38-year-old resident of Isfara Muzaffar Ahmadov was detained on November 8 on suspicion of having contacts with the banned IMU.  “He was harboring the IMU member Abdujalil Ahmadov at his home last June,” the source said, noting that several residents of the Navgilem jamoat in Isfara, including two women and one minor, were detained last week for alleged IMU membership.

We will recall that the 50-year-old resident of the Kulkant jamoat Khanifakhon Ahmadova was detained on November 3.  According to the Sughd law enforcement authorities, she hid a hand grenade F-1 in the territory of the production cooperative, Navgilem.  The preliminary investigation has established that the grenade was material evidence in criminal cases of the IMU members Abdurahim Umarov, also known as Makhsum, and Abdukholiq Boboyev, also known as Ilhombek.  Both are on the wanted persons list.  Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Ms. Ahmadova on the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – Article 36, part 5 (complicity in crime), Article 187, Part 2 (participation in criminal grouping), and Article 195, Part 1 (illegally bearing, possessing, and acquiring weapons , explosives and explosive assemblies).

According to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, Isfara district prosecutor Orifjon Umarov said Ahmadova is the mother of Abdujalil Ahmadov, who was arrested on October 18 after a shootout between Tajik security forces and a group of insurgents that left four militants dead.

The 41-year-old resident of the Kulkant jamoat Obidakhon Qudratova was detained on November 4 on suspicion of having harbored the IMU members at her home.  She was charged with harboring the IMU members at her home from March to June this year and keeping extremist religious literature in her house.  Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Ms. Qudratova under the provisions of Article 187, Part 2 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – organization of criminal grouping.

Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that last year, three women in Sughd province''s Kulkant village were sentenced to 10 and 11 years in prison for their involvement in a terrorist group.  But they were released after President Emomali Rahmon issued a decree granting them amnesty.