The question of whether Hizb ut-Tahrir is worth forbidding and the question of whether those people are actually guilty of being members are two very different questions.
There are from seven to ten thousands of Hizb ut-Tahrir members and followers in Crimea according to the data of law-enforcement bodies. However, the committee on religion’s estimate of Hizb ut-Tahrir members is from five to six thousands. Mustafa Djemilev, the head of Crimean Tatar Mejlis, thinks “There are 500-600 wahabis in Crimea. Among them 70-80 people are active members and the rest are gapers”. Refat Chubarov, the first deputy head of Mejlis, also does not agree that there can be seven thousands of Hizb ut-Tahrir followers in Crimea.
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However, Crimean Verkhovna Rada [that’s their parliament] intends to ban this organization. The bill was going to be put on its agenda in April, 2008.18 However, Crimean government has no power to ban this organization as Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada did not delegate such authority to Crimea.
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Crimean Mufti strongly opposes Hizb ut-ahrir: “Hizb ut-Tahrir is a political party, not religious. There is no such a thing as a political party in Islam. They just use the name of Islam. It is interesting that the authorities do not consider Hizb ut-Tahrir a threat or a harmful organization. The mufti institution was against its registration but when these people registered in the republican committee on religion, they did not say they were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
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After the mosque was restored, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir changed the keys there. We [Crimean Mufti] also had a photo of them breaking the door, we sent it to the police but they did not take any actions because they know what kind of organization Hizb ut-Tahrir is. We know that the law enforcement bodies neither support, nor defend us.”
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There is also a widespread perspective that Russian government pursues its own interests by using Hizb ut-Tahrir’s destabilizing potential and it might even fund and support this party politically. Refat Chubarov, in his interview to news agency “Kontekst-media”, Chubarov asserts that some foreign country funds the organization, he even assumes that financial assistance comes from Russia.
Given that background 300 people doesn’t seem to be an unrealistic number.
It also suggests that Hizb ut-Tahrir does not speak for all Muslims.
It estimated the total number of conflict-related detainees subjected to torture and ill-treatment in 2014-2021 at around 4,000 – 1,500 at the hands of government agents and about 2,500 by separatists. They included an estimated 340 victims of sexual violence.
I find the torture happening on both sides terribly sad. The reason I continue to support Ukraine—aside from them being a victim of aggression—is that I have hope that things will change for the better there. While in Russia I’m confident that things will only get worse. Both countries have the same Soviet past, but Ukraine decided to move towards European values, while Russia decided to stand for imperialism and homophobia. And after writing this, I realised: your linked report says that Ukraine stopped using secret detention facilities in 2017 but separatists continue using them. Some things are really getting better.
The question of whether Hizb ut-Tahrir is worth forbidding and the question of whether those people are actually guilty of being members are two very different questions.
When trying to understand the organizations role in Crimea I found https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/125726/RU_41.pdf (of course I don’t know fully how trustworthy everything is):
Given that background 300 people doesn’t seem to be an unrealistic number.
It also suggests that Hizb ut-Tahrir does not speak for all Muslims.
Torture is obviously bad, but it’s not one-sided in the conflict https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-n-documents-prisoners-torture-abuse-in-ukrainian-conflict:
Unseen harms happen on both sides.
I find the torture happening on both sides terribly sad. The reason I continue to support Ukraine—aside from them being a victim of aggression—is that I have hope that things will change for the better there. While in Russia I’m confident that things will only get worse. Both countries have the same Soviet past, but Ukraine decided to move towards European values, while Russia decided to stand for imperialism and homophobia. And after writing this, I realised: your linked report says that Ukraine stopped using secret detention facilities in 2017 but separatists continue using them. Some things are really getting better.