On 5 May 2014 some amendments to the Federal Law № 130 entered into force, these amendments introduce new penalties. In particular, Articles 205.3, 205.4, 205.5 of the Criminal Code of RF were toughened. The most important change, in addition to others, less significant, is not simply the increase of the timing. Now for violations under these articles man will face life imprisonment. This suggests that there is something very serious, apparently carrying a real threat to the state. Whom are these articles against? Why Russian “legislators” rush to such extremes? This question requires a detailed consideration, because before our eyes the “terrorist law” has recently underwent a significant change.
On 3 November 2013, the president signed the law that introduced a range of new anti-terrorist measures. By analogy with anti-extremist Articles 282.1, 282.2 there were established Article 205.3 (“Education for making terror action”), Article 205.4 (“Establishing of a terror community and participation in it”) Article 205.5 (“Establishing of a terror organization and participation in it”). However, the punishment provided for them is much more severe than in the corresponding extremist: imprisonment for a term of 15 to 20 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles for organization and for a term of 5 to 10 years with a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles for participation. But it took a little over six months, and for the same elements of the “crime” they decided to punish until life imprisonment, abolished the statute of limitations.
If you pay attention, you will notice that Article 205 CC RF punishes for the commitment of a terrorist act itself (blowing-up, arson or other actions leading to the death of a person, causing significant property damage or other serious consequences), and the Article 205 Parts 3-5 do not imply any actual aggression or damage. Such articles were worked out to detain people who are not pleased by the authority, but they do not commit any “terrorist act” due to the fact that they have no relation to “terrorism”. By virtue of the fact that in Russia the term “terrorism” and Islam purposefully tied into one, correspondingly the Muslims suffer from these laws. Furthermore in the law “terrorist organizations” are mentioned and any participation in them is also severely punished.
Generally, they usually combat by killing them physically and in this regard, the special services have full powers to conduct such special operations. In practice, almost all clashes end in killing of the armed groups’ members. This demonstrates that tightening of this law does not connect with a real fight with “terrorism”. It would be absurd to frighten with life imprisonment those who have decided to join the armed struggle and are ready to die on this path.
If you look to whom these articles address, you can notice that it is primarily to the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir – the Islamic party that calls to Islam and is limited with an ideological and political struggle. Thus, immediately after the tightening of the law, in November 2013 in Chelyabinsk, five Muslims were sentenced for belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir. And if earlier an old scheme of persecuting under Article 282.2 (extremism) acted, so now they added an anti-terrorist article of CC, opening a new round of persecution. Then a case was fabricated in Stavropolye, where the court found Abdurahim Toshmatov guilty in planning a terror act and sentenced him to 17 years of imprisonment. Despite the fact that this was only the beginning of using the new scheme by the Russian repressive machine it was decided, seemingly, to do immediately that for which all the previous amendments were accepted – to increase the timing up to life imprisonment. If before during fabrication of criminal cases, after planting weapons, drugs and accusations in all possible crimes, a member of the party could get up to 2 decades of imprisonment, and today he/she can get life imprisonment.
And do the powers want to hide their crimes! On 26 February 2014, it was found out that they started a criminal case against the inhabitants of the Bashkir town Dyurtyuli, who were suspected in belonging to Hizb ut Tahrir. The criminal case on Article 205.5 CC RF was initiated against six of them. This was the first case brought under this criminal article and special services were not in a hurry to cover this fact in the media, studying the reaction of society. Besides that, the authorities want to test the enforceability of this article to continue prosecution of the Islamic call (dawah) carriers, they want to frighten the Muslims, as before the Quraish did in regard of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions. But the Muslims’ position comes from the words of the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, who said to the enemies of Islam:
«وَاللَّهِ يَا عَمِّ، لَوْ وَضَعُوا الشَّمْسَ فِي يَمِينِي، وَالْقَمَرَ فِي شِمَالِي، عَلَى أَنْ أَتْرُكَ هَذَا الأَمْرَ مَا تَرَكْتُهُ، حَتَّى يُظْهِرَهُ اللَّهُ، أَوْ أَهْلِكَ فِيهِ»
“By God, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left in order that I may give up my work, I will not do so. I will go on till Allah helps me or I expire in the effort”.
And today there are not more inhuman laws against peaceful preachers of Islam than these are. Moreover, since 1 January 2015 cases on Article 205 will be considered only by the Moscow district military court and North-Caucasus district military court, and that excludes any public lighting of the lawlessness, and as practice shows, of any violations of the defendants.
The purpose of this struggle with the Islamic party is the ideology of Islam, that Hizb ut-Tahrir take as a guide and this worldview along with the Ummah will by Allah’s will lead to victory and establishment of the Khilafah. Feeling their weakness before this ideology, Russia yet in 2003 took such an unprecedented step: it became the only country in the world that recognized the Islamic political party as a terrorist. No other country did not dare to resort to such an open lie, which runs counter to some common sense. No one in the world blame Hizb ut Tahrir for terrorism. In Europe, the public activity of the party is banned only in Germany, but nobody persecutes its members. In Central Asia countries the accusations reach maximum to extremism, and then because of rooted tyranny. Everybody knows that there is not a fact of terror act in Russia as well as in any country of the world. Indirectly Russia admits it, accusing of the “calls, education, inclining, recruiting, involvement, aiding, financing, preparation” of anything, but not of a “terror act” itself. However, this does not bother ungodly number of holders of power, about whom the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«إِذَا لَمْ تَسْتَحْيِ فَاصْنَعْ مَا شِئْتَ»
“If you are not ashamed then do what you want”.
As for Russia itself, so it runs terrorist activity as in and out the country. The proof of this is the permanent judicial persecutions and murders of the Muslims in North Caucasus and other regions, the past local wars in Chechnya being accompanied by the massacre of men, women, children and old men. As for the foreign policy, so Russia commits an awful crime, supplying Assad with all kinds of the arms, by means of those hundreds of thousands of Muslims of Syria were killed. To this day, Russian rockets and bombs are falling on the blessed land and people’s bodies are torn with Russian bullets. Only the blind can not see this terror and most of all it is obvious to Syrians.
It remains to clarify the question: what does push Russia to such unprecedented steps in establishing such laws? Allah in the Quran says:
قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الآيَاتِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
“Hatred has appeared out of their mouths, but what their breasts hide is far worse. We have made the Signs clear to you if you use your intellect.”
(Aal-Imran, 3:118)
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says that the disbelievers hate the believers and this is the first reason. This is clearly evident for men who understand, and as an example, one can mention the ban of Islamic literature, hijabs, destruction of the mosques not to mention the arrests and murders of the Muslims. As for the second reason – it is the fear. Since then, as Islam takes more and more attention in the thinking of the Muslims, it becomes politicized, because Islam without politics (i.e. without controlling the affairs of men) inconceivable. Each affair in any sphere of human life is governed by the laws of Shariah. Hizb ut Tahrir has headed the Ummah in its aim to live by the Creator’s laws and vowed to bring this matter to the end, despite all trials that only strengthen the believers. The clear call, true ideology, steadfastness, resistance – all these frighten the disbelievers, who have nothing of these. But most of all they fear the establishment of the second Khilafah Rashid on the Muslims’ lands. And he is not far off. The whole world community do its best to destroy even the slightest signs of its appearance, but despite all these, the project Khilafah is becoming more real. Allah says in the Quran:
يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَيَأْبَى اللَّهُ إِلا أَنْ يُتِمَّ نُورَهُ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ
“They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths. But Allah refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the kafirun detest it.”
(At-Tawba, 32)
On the eve of the Geneva 2 conference, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “It is very important that the political process was accompanied by combining healthy forces, who are thinking about their homeland, but not about the establishment of the Khilafah in the Middle East and north of Africa. To unite them and help them in many different ways to combat with a terrorist threat. It is a challenge for the region and for the whole world”. As well as the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in his speech: “…a threat of the radical Islam never subsides. It grows and spreads throughout the world. It destabilizes societies and the whole nations. In the face of this threat, we have with surprise to admit its existence and our inability to counter it effectively”. That is, the disbelievers themselves have understood that the establishment of the state is just a matter of time. Russia is rightly worried, knowing about their crimes, but to this day it continues to struggle, trying to get rid of the call carriers. But Allah سبحانه وتعالى predetermined the outcome of the struggle between faith and disbelief, saying:
وَعَدَ اللَّـهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُون
“Allah has promised those of you who have iman and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their deen with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. ‘They worship Me, not associating anything with Me.’ Any who are kafir after that, such people are deviators.”
(An-Nur, 24:55)
Also the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«لَيَبْلُغَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مَا بَلَغَ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ، وَلَا يَتْرُكُ اللَّهُ بَيْتَ مَدَرٍ وَلَا وَبَرٍ إِلَّا أَدْخَلَهُ اللَّهُ هَذَا الدِّينَ، بِعِزِّ عَزِيزٍ، أَوْ بِذُلِّ ذَلِيلٍ، عِزًّا يُعِزُّ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْإِسْلَامَ، وَذُلًّا يُذِلُّ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْكُفْرَ»
“This case is sure to reach the horizon of night and day. Allah will not leave a single house settled or nomadic not only as setting this religion with the glory of the glorious or the humiliation of the insignificant. Allah will exalt Islam with glory and demean disbelieve with humiliation.” (Ahmad).
Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Russia
Thursday, 23rd Rajab 1435 AH
22/05/2014 CE
REF: 1435 AH/08