15 August 2014 Friday
Police in Crimea have reportedly started targeting Muslim women with headscarfs with identification checks ahead of Russian president Vladimir Putin's to the Black Sea peninsula on Thursday.
Muslim women in the capital Simferopol (Akmescit) and Bakhchysarai accused Russian police of pulling women with headscarfs over for passport checks and treating them as if they were 'enemies' on their Facebook profiles.
Eider Ismailov, the assistant mufti of Crimea, said that the Islamic Religious Affairs authority in Crimea had not received any official complaints, but said the measures may have been taken for security reasons.
“This shows that Russian police do not trust headscarfed women and see them as a separate group the the general public. This is nothing but an insult against our beliefs as Muslims,” Ismailov said.
Meanwhile, madrasas (religious schools) in Crimea are being searched for banned reading materials, another assistant mufti, Esadullah Bairov, told the Qirim News Agency.
Three madrasas were searched during August 13, ahead of a law that will come into force in 2015 that bans a number of popular Islamic books.
“The book are removed as a warning, as the law is not in force in Crimea yet. Still no extremist literature was found in Crimean madrasas that were searched,” Bairov said.
Some Islamic books that have been banned include the work of popular 20th century Turkish scholar Said Nursi and the famous 'Fortress of the Muslim' book of supplications of the Prophet Muhammad, which was collected by ancient Muslim scholar Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf Al-Qahtani. A certain biography of the Prophet Muhammad is also banned.
Around 300,000 Muslims in Crimea, mainly native Crimean Tatars, are having to adjust to new laws enforced by Russia after their homeland was annexed from Ukraine following a referendum in March.
CRIMEAN TATARS 'TARGETED'
Since the annexation in March, around 3,000 Crimean Tatars have left the peninsula for mainland Ukraine.
The U.N. has also pointed to the erosion of human rights in Crimea, which remains under the occupation of pro-Russian militias who particularly threaten the Crimean Tatars.
Crimean Tatars have complained that they have been targeted for speaking their Turkic language in public and have had their homes marked by pro-Russian militiamen.
The Crimean Tatar Mejlis (Parliament) was also threatened with closure after they organized protests for former Mejlis head Mustafa Jemilev, who has been barred from entering the peninsula for five years along with current leader Refat Chubarov.
Earlier this month, Qirim News Agency general coordinator Ismet Yuksel was also given the same five-year ban.
The Crimean Tatars have largely opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia, fearing a repeat of the events of 1944 when they were completely expelled as part of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's policy.
They gradually started returning in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, but still live as a minority in their homeland as they were displaced by ethnic Russian settlers who migrated there later on.
Since the annexation, Russia has been granting Russian citizenship to the people of Crimea in replacement of their Ukrainian nationality. Crimean Tatars, who have campaigned to reject Russian citizenship, reserve the right to remain as Ukrainian citizens, but will by default become foreigners in their homeland.
Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/142566/russian-police-checking-ids-of-muslim-women-in-crimea.
Police in Crimea have reportedly started targeting Muslim women with headscarfs with identification checks ahead of Russian president Vladimir Putin's to the Black Sea peninsula on Thursday.
Muslim women in the capital Simferopol (Akmescit) and Bakhchysarai accused Russian police of pulling women with headscarfs over for passport checks and treating them as if they were 'enemies' on their Facebook profiles.
Eider Ismailov, the assistant mufti of Crimea, said that the Islamic Religious Affairs authority in Crimea had not received any official complaints, but said the measures may have been taken for security reasons.
“This shows that Russian police do not trust headscarfed women and see them as a separate group the the general public. This is nothing but an insult against our beliefs as Muslims,” Ismailov said.
Meanwhile, madrasas (religious schools) in Crimea are being searched for banned reading materials, another assistant mufti, Esadullah Bairov, told the Qirim News Agency.
Three madrasas were searched during August 13, ahead of a law that will come into force in 2015 that bans a number of popular Islamic books.
“The book are removed as a warning, as the law is not in force in Crimea yet. Still no extremist literature was found in Crimean madrasas that were searched,” Bairov said.
Some Islamic books that have been banned include the work of popular 20th century Turkish scholar Said Nursi and the famous 'Fortress of the Muslim' book of supplications of the Prophet Muhammad, which was collected by ancient Muslim scholar Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf Al-Qahtani. A certain biography of the Prophet Muhammad is also banned.
Around 300,000 Muslims in Crimea, mainly native Crimean Tatars, are having to adjust to new laws enforced by Russia after their homeland was annexed from Ukraine following a referendum in March.
CRIMEAN TATARS 'TARGETED'
Since the annexation in March, around 3,000 Crimean Tatars have left the peninsula for mainland Ukraine.
The U.N. has also pointed to the erosion of human rights in Crimea, which remains under the occupation of pro-Russian militias who particularly threaten the Crimean Tatars.
Crimean Tatars have complained that they have been targeted for speaking their Turkic language in public and have had their homes marked by pro-Russian militiamen.
The Crimean Tatar Mejlis (Parliament) was also threatened with closure after they organized protests for former Mejlis head Mustafa Jemilev, who has been barred from entering the peninsula for five years along with current leader Refat Chubarov.
Earlier this month, Qirim News Agency general coordinator Ismet Yuksel was also given the same five-year ban.
The Crimean Tatars have largely opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia, fearing a repeat of the events of 1944 when they were completely expelled as part of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's policy.
They gradually started returning in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, but still live as a minority in their homeland as they were displaced by ethnic Russian settlers who migrated there later on.
Since the annexation, Russia has been granting Russian citizenship to the people of Crimea in replacement of their Ukrainian nationality. Crimean Tatars, who have campaigned to reject Russian citizenship, reserve the right to remain as Ukrainian citizens, but will by default become foreigners in their homeland.
Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/142566/russian-police-checking-ids-of-muslim-women-in-crimea.
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