A group of relatives of the convicted members of Khizb-ut-Tahrir send a letter to Tajik President urging to halt tortures, pressure and illegal detention of Khizb-ut-Tahrir followers.

In his interview to AP, lawyer of the convicts Shuhrat Kudratov said that the letter was signed by 52 persons and he is planning to visit the convicts in the nearest time.

According to the letter, these citizens were wrongfully convicted on the basis of faked accusations. “They did not urge to national or religious discord, did not urge to overthrow the existing constitutional order and were not members of criminal groups,” authors of the letter stress.

According to the decision made by the Tajik Supreme court in 2001, the convicts were accused of the aforementioned crimes as they are members of Khizb-ut-Tahrir forbidden organization which seeks to establish Khalifat.

Authors of the letter also claim that law enforcement officers detain relatives of Khizb members first forcing real Khizb-ut-Tahrir followers to come to police units. “Our convicted relatives were tortured and were forced to testify. We saw multiple injuries on their bodies…Furthermore, they were threatened that if they refuse to testify their wives and sisters would be raped,” the authors of the letter have said.

“Is it a crime to urge people of Tajikistan, 98% of population of which are Muslims, to live under the rules of Islam? Is it correct to convict people who urge citizens to live under the rules of Islam in the country where citizens, starting from its President to ordinary citizen, are Muslims?” they ask in the letter.

The letter also claims that the convicts changed their lives to the better when they started to learn the ideas of Khizb-ut-Tahrir. “They started to pay more attention to their children, wives and parents. Some of them used to be drug users before they joined Khizb-ut-Tahrir. They used to take bribes but when they started to learn the ideas of this organization they have changed and become model Muslims. Is it fair to jail such people? Isn’t it unfair?” the letter says.