The imam of a large mosque in southern Kyrgyzstan has been detained on suspicion of belonging to the banned Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The press officer for the Interior Ministry branch in Osh, Zhenish Ashirbaev, said the imam was calling for the creation of a caliphate and calling for people to go to Syria to take part in fighting there.
The Kyrgyz news agency Turmush identified the imam as K. Rashodhon.
Rashod qori Kamolov is the imam at the Sarakhsiy Mosque in Kara-Suu district.
Kamolov has been detained by authorities in Kyrgyzstan previously, sparking large protests in Kara-Suu organized by his followers.
Kamolov's father Rafiq qori Kamalov was the imam at the same mosque before he was killed in 2006 in an operation that Uzbekistan's security forces took part in on Kyrgyz territory.
