Kazakstan's Islamists: Radicals or Scapegoats?

Wednesday, 20 July, 2011

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Saule Mukhametrakhimova

Central Asia Editor

Recent events in western Kazakstan, a suicide attack and the a major security operation against an armed group – opened have sparked a debate on whether the harsh tactics used by the authorities are driving devout Muslims towards radicalism.

In mid-May, a man blew himself up at the entrance to the local branch of the National Security Committee in the city of Aktobe. In an unrelated incident at the end of June, two policemen were shot dead in the village of Kenkiak, in the Aktobe region. This prompted a massive security sweep which ended with 12 people dead. In the latter case, the suspects were known to have been part of an informal Islamic grouping, though the extent to which this was a factor in their confrontation with the authorities remains unclear. 

IWPR asked Maisy Weicherding, a researcher with Amnesty International’s Eurasia team, to comment on the extent to which the continuing crackdown on alleged Islamic activists has a causal effect on the growth of radicalism.

Maisy Weicherding: It is true, of course, that in many countries the violent repression of political or religious movements has led to the growth and radicalisation of these movements. However, this has rarely happened in isolation – it is often accompanied by difficult socio-economic situations, unequal distribution of wealth, corruption, widespread poverty and youth unemployment.

The killing of the two police officers may have been linked to a number of causes – maybe the killers had grievances against the officers because of threats, extortion or corruption, maybe they had a very personal family-related grievance, maybe it was linked to local organised crime.

Indiscriminately blaming members of unregistered Islamic movements and Islamist groups for any violent events or crimes, and ill-treating and torturing them to make them confess, may be an easy way to fulfil crime targets, but it will also contribute to the radicalisation of their members in Kazakstan, as will the corruption of local officials, including security forces, the unequal distribution of resources and wealth and the failure of the state to provide equal access to education, health, social services and justice.

IWPR: The Kazak authorities say the police have nothing against the average committed Muslim, and only go after radicals who brainwash young people in order to recruit them. What kind of harassment are members of Muslim groups most commonly subjected to?

Weicherding: Because a number of Islamic movements and Islamist groups are either not registered or are banned in Kazakstan, any activities that members or followers undertake fall outside the scope of the law. And so, in the eyes of the security forces, they are committing an offence, often a criminal offence.

Harassment takes the form of raids on unregistered mosques, the breaking up of prayer meetings, threats of violence or criminal prosecution against members or suspected members of unregistered groups and their families. Women often find that security forces will ask them to remove their hijab [Islamic dress] or remove it forcibly themselves.

Amnesty International has received reports of beatings of men and women believed to be members of an unregistered group. The media often denounce members as terrorists or extremists prone to violence, with no evidence. Many of them lose their jobs if they are so identified.

IWPR: What kind of Muslim groups are targeted by the police and the National Security Committee, and what do they get accused of?

Weicherding: Among those most frequently targeted by the security forces in Kazakstan, Amnesty International has noted the Islamist political party Hizb ut-Tahrir. Other groups targeted are members of various Salafi communities, Wahhabis, and members of the Ahmadi community. This is by no means an exclusive list.

The official version is that members of these groups represent a serious threat to the constitutional order and structure of the country and to the security of the country’s citizens. These groups are portrayed as terrorist, extremist organisations intent on destroying the existing order and establishing a fundamentalist Islamist regime which would deny citizens fundamental human rights.

IWPR: Human rights activists say that there are several hundred religious prisoners in Kazakstan and that the courts frequently hand down unjustifiably harsh sentences. What would you say about that?

Weicherding: This corresponds to information that Amnesty International has received. We don’t have exact figures, but the numbers of individuals detained on charges of membership or suspected membership of Islamic movements or Islamist groups banned in Kazakhstan, and convicted of criminal activities linked to that membership, have been steadily increasing over the last decade.

It is true that in many of the cases that Amnesty International has monitored over the years, members of banned Islamist groups or parties have been sentenced to long terms in harsh-regime prison facilities after blatantly unfair trials. For example, there was no presumption of innocence; often the media would quote security officials as saying the defendants guilty were even before the start of the trial.

Most trials were closed to the public and no independent monitors were allowed into the courtroom. Often the families of the defendants themselves were not allowed in.

Defendants alleged in court that they had been tortured to make them confess to the charges, yet no judge ordered investigations into these allegations, and in most cases the conviction was based solely on the confession of the defendant.

IWPR: What allegations of abuse of “religious” prisoners have been recorded by human rights organisations, and what can be done to stop them?

Weicherding: Some of the longer sentences entail lengthy periods of solitary confinement. Some prisoners will not be allowed visits or contact with their families for a year or more.

Pious Muslim prisoners may not be allowed to pray in prison, they may be forced to clean toilets with their bare hands or do other jobs that are deemed unclean according to their religious beliefs. Families and human rights defenders have told Amnesty International that many are singled out for regular beatings, subjected to threats of sexual violence or to actual sexual violence, and are put in punishment cells more often than other prisoners

One way to remedy the ill-treatment meted out to prisoners would be for the Kazakhstan authorities to be strict and thorough about implementing their international human rights obligations and about making sure officials who mistreat prisoners are identified and brought to justice. Increasing the mandate and resources – human, financial and technical – of the public monitoring commissions would enable them to visit prisons on a more regular basis. Unannounced visits would bring to light more of the abuses.

Recommendations by these commissions should be mandatory.

This would benefit all prisoners.

IWPR: The authorities have expressed concern that the influence of Muslim groups is spreading in places of detention as a result of proselytising by prisoners. Is this true, and if so, do you know whether they are just trying to attract more followers of the faith, or recruiting new members of radical groups?

Weicherding: A number of independent organisations, academics and human rights activists have expressed similar concerns about the growth of groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir in places of detention not only in Kazakstan but throughout Central Asia and in Russia. Whether the proselytising is about attracting followers of the faith or recruiting members to radical groups very much depends on who you ask.

For many of the so-called “non-traditional” religious or faith-based groups, proselytism is an intrinsic and essential part of their creeds…. according to these groups, it isn’t a radical or subversive or indeed prohibited act, but part of their right to freely exercise the religion and belief of their choice.

This is true of groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir as well as of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishna, Christian evangelist groups and others too.

In the authorities’ eyes, proselytism is unlawful, a subversive anti-state activity, and individuals who proselytise – be it in places of detention or elsewhere - are [seen as] trying to recruit members to radical groups that are intent on undermining the constitutional order or on overthrowing the state.

Saule Mukhametrakhimova is IWPR Central Asia editor in London.