Kyrgyz Arrest Alleged Members Of Hizb Ut-Tahrir

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

January 24, 2014
JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyzstan -- Three alleged members of the banned Hizb-ut Tahrir Islamic group have been arrested in Kyrgyzstan's southern province of Jalal-Abad.

Regional police officials told RFE/RL on January 24 that the suspects were arrested during a special operation lasting several days.

Police say one of the suspects is an Uzbek national who crossed the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border illegally, while the two others are Kyrgyz citizens from the Jalal-Abad region's Bazar-Korgon and Suzak districts.

Police say books and electronic material with extremist content were found in the suspects' possession.

The Kyrgyz government and some other former Soviet republics have banned the London-based Sunni political group, branding Hizb-ut Tahrir supporters as "extremists."