The Dupes of Islam

by David E

You would think that the human rights activists could find someone more worthy to defend then a bunch of crazed Muslims in Uzbekistan intent on reestablishing the Caliphate. Apparently, those human rights activists, just like Jimmy Carter, have given no thought over what happens when those crazed Muslims are allowed to go about their business. Can anyone say Afghanistan ? Iran ? Pakistan ? Saudi Arabia ? Sudan ? 

The issue is not religious persecution. It is an issue of whether the Uzbek government has the right to act against treasonous forces that are trying to recreate Afghanistan in their back yard.  

Let’s hear some of the cackle from these “Dupes of Islam. I will note that it is more than a page into the report of Human Rights Watch that you get to the truth, i.e., that those being persecuted are trying to overthrow the state and establish the Caliphate.”

The Uzbek government is conducting a merciless campaign against peaceful Muslim dissidents," said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division. "The scale and brutality of the operations against “independent Muslims” make it clear that these are part of a concerted and tightly-orchestrated campaign of religious persecution."  
 
Just last month, a 62-year-old woman, Fatima Mukhadirova, was convicted on charges of religious extremism after she had spoken out about the torture and death of her son in custody. Her son, imprisoned for "religious extremism," died in prison in August 2002 after he was apparently submerged in boiling water. Mukhadirova was released following international outcry. But police raids and arrests continue unabated and at least 26 independent Muslims have been convicted since January.  
 
The Uzbek government has branded independent Muslims as "extremists" or "Wahhabis"—a pejorative term used by the Uzbek government to suggest people are “fundamentalists” and not as a reference to actual believers in Wahhabism as practiced in Saudi Arabia . They are imprisoned on charges of "subversion," "encroachment on the constitutional order," or "anti-state activities." They are arrested, tried in grossly unfair proceedings, and receive sentences of up to twenty years in prison. Those targeted for arrest include people whom the state deems as "too pious," including those who pray at home or wear a beard—which is a sign of piety.  
 
The report refutes the Uzbek government's frequent claim that the arrest of nonviolent Muslim dissidents is necessary to counter terrorism. In 1999 and 2000, a militant group known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan conducted armed operations in the region. The Uzbek government has blamed the IMU for a series of bomb attacks that took place in Tashkent in February 1999. However, the people whose cases are featured in this report—like thousands of others targeted in the government crackdown—were not charged with involvement in those bombings or accused of membership in the IMU, but were instead imprisoned for their peaceful religious beliefs and practices.  

In mass public denunciations reminiscent of the Stalin era, government officials parade independent Muslims or their relatives in front of assembled members of their community, and vilify them as "traitors" or "enemies of the state." Police arrest and torture the relatives of so-called extremists, sometimes holding them hostage in police custody until the suspect turns himself over to authorities.  
 
More than half of the government’s targets have been members of the “nonviolent” Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation)”. This group, at once a religious and political organization, advocates the establishment of the Caliphate—a form of Islamic state—in Uzbekistan and other traditionally Muslim countries.  
 

Editors Note: Al Qaeda is trying to reestablish the Caliphate too. Is Al Qaeda just the violent arm of Hizb ut-Tahir? Does Al Qaeda simply take responsibility for Hizb ut-Tahir’s crimes and those of other Islamic groups so that those groups are nonviolent?

The Spin 

To get further sympathy, Human Rights Watch brings up the Stalin era! Why the hell don’t they bring up the Khomeni era in Iran ? And Pakistan ? Damn, you have about 4,000 women in jail in Pakistan for having been raped. Is that what Human Rights Watch is looking to have happen in Uzbekistan ? My view is that it is clear that by advocating the Caliphate, Hizb ut-Tahir is trying to overthrow the Uzbekistan government. Isn’t that treason? 

Let’s make sure that our government doesn’t put undo pressure on Uzbekistan for doing the right thing. 

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/29/uzbeki8309.htm