Russia Targets a Muslim Mother from Crimean Tatar and Her Daughters
for the First Time in Arrests on Baseless Terrorism Charges
(Translated)
News:
In a horrific escalation, the wife of political prisoner Remzi Nemetulaev and three other young women were arrested in morning raids, representing the first mass arrest of women in the ongoing Russian repression belt.
Unfortunately, there were no surprises on October 16, as the occupation court in Simferopol ordered the detention of Asma Nemetulaieva, born in 1985, Elviza Aliieva, born in 2005, Fevziye Osmanova, born in 2004, and Nesibe Saidova, born in 2006. This came despite no specific charge being brought against any of them, and that Asma Nemetulaieva, the wife of a political prisoner, has five young children.
Despite the sharp increase in the number of female political prisoners since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the collective operation on October 15, targeting Crimean Tatar women, constituted a very dangerous red line that Russia crossed for the first time.
These trials have already caused a large number of Crimean Tatar children to be traumatized by armed searches, forcing them to live without their fathers. The message is now very clear, which is that they may become completely orphaned without being safe from persecution.
Comment:
Since its occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, Russia has relentlessly persecuted Crimean Muslims.
Until now, the arrests of this atheist regime of Hizb ut-Tahrir youth have been limited to men only, but we are now witnessing the first arrests against women belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Crimean Peninsula. These four women are Asma Nemetulaieva, a confectioner and mother of five children; Elviza Aliieva, a university student; Fevziye Osmanova, a shop worker; and Nesibe Saidova, a teacher and worker in a children's nursery.
Aliye Bekirova, Asma's 73-year-old mother, recounted the horror of the 4 a.m. raid, describing how she, her daughter, and five grandchildren were at home at the time, saying, "They suddenly entered without knocking. My daughter said: Don't break it, I'll open it myself." Immediately, a whole group of armed security forces entered; there were more than ten, while her grandson says there were at least fifteen." After the arrival of the Russian Federal Security Service units, the children woke up to the noise and shouting, while the adults were worried about their families. The woman remembers that the security forces turned things upside down, searched everything in the children's room, and even searched Islamic books. They did not allow their eldest granddaughter, who is a student, to enter the room when they read the search warrant. Some phones were confiscated, and the rest were returned.
During the raid, officers warned Aliye Bekirova against applying for formal guardianship of her grandchildren, threatening that "if there is no guardian, the state may take the children." She asked them: "Why are you doing this? You are orphaning the children and their fathers are alive!", "What have they done to you? They are only practicing their religion." According to her, Asma was taken around seven in the morning. Her mother later commented: "Isn't the number of security forces enough for one woman?".
The message, as activists warn, is clear: Crimean Tatar children, who have already suffered the trauma of armed searches and the arrest of their fathers, can now be completely orphaned.
This is not the first time that Crimean Muslims have been persecuted by Russia. First it was Tsarist Russia, then the communist Kremlin regime, and now Putin's autocratic regime. Today, the Islamic advocacy campaign in Crimea reminds us of the status of the early Muslims in Mecca. Our sisters stand firm with pride and dignity like Sumayya bint Khabbat, may God be pleased with her, staring in the face of the brutal Russian occupying regime, relying on God's promise alone, as they continue to call for the resumption of Islamic life.
It is known worldwide that Hizb ut-Tahrir is not a terrorist organization, and that all the accusations leveled against it by the Kremlin are mere lies and fabrications. Following the history of Hizb ut-Tahrir from its inception in 1953 until now makes it possible to refute these lies easily. The party adopts intellectual struggle, argument and proof, and will not abandon this approach. It will continue its intellectual and political work until God grants it victory and enables it to resume Islamic life under the second rightly-guided caliphate according to the method of prophecy, and to spread Islam, the religion of mercy, justice and tranquility, so that nations will enter it in droves, fleeing from the injustice of capitalism and the tyranny of rulers, and so that people can distinguish right from wrong.
God Almighty says: ﴿It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion. And sufficient is God as Witness.﴾.
Written for the Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Thurayya Amal Yassna
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
