RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 143, Part I, 30 July 2003

Top Muslim official complains about wave of reprisals against Muslim Russians.

Nafigulla Ashirov, co-chairman of the Council of Muftis, has called on Russian authorities to put an end to the harassment of Muslims and incitement of ethnic hatred, Ekho Moskvy reported on 29 July. According to Ashirov, in the wake of the 5 July bombings at Tushino in Moscow -- which he said were allegedly carried out by "suicide bombers whom no one has identified" -- "a wave of reprisals has again swept over Muslims." "Police agencies view every Muslim female in religious attire as a "shahid terrorist," he said. "The country's leadership is responsible for letting this happen.... At present, everything is being done to turn the huge mass of the country's non-Russian population into Russia's
foes," Ashirov concluded. Earlier this month, a woman wearing a Muslim headscarf was ejected from a cafe in central Moscow, REN-TV reported on 17 July. The woman, who was visiting from London, was told that people wearing "ethnic clothes are not served." After she called the police to insist that her right to be served be upheld, police officers reportedly arrived, took her documents, and escorted her to a police station. JAC