Kazakhstan Bans Islamic Group

A court in Astana has banned the international Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat.

Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General's Office announced on February 26 that the group had been designated as extremist and all its activities in Kazakhstan were now considered illegal.

The court cited the ideas that have been propagated by the group, but it is not clear what specific ideas were found to be extremist.

Tablighi Jamaat (Society for Spreading Faith) is a religious movement founded in India in 1926 that positions itself as a pacifist organization not involved in politics.

In recent years, it has been banned in Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Last year in Tajikistan, several members of the group were sentenced to prison terms of between three and five years.

Based on reporting by KazTAG and Kazinform