Uzbek court hands out jail sentences to Muslim extremists

A court in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan on Thursday handed out stiff jail sentences to 10 men accused of taking part in a banned Muslim extremist group, the Interfax news agency reported.

Bakhtiyar Makhamatov and Nematilla Sakhibov were convicted of membership in the pan-Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir and sentenced to seven years in prison, DPA reported.

The pair had formed and became leaders of a Hizb ut-Tahrir group in the Uzbek capital Taskhkent and had called for the overthrow of Uzbekistan's secular government, the court found.

Makhamatov, 30, allegedly used his position as iman of a city mosque to attract followers and call for holy war against non-Muslims.

Six other detainees received six-year prison sentences on charges of membership in the cell run by Makhamatov and Sakhibov. Two detainees were released on six year probational sentences because they are below the age of 21, according to the report.

They allegedly supported the group's efforts by handing out pamphlets and CDs with texts calling for an overthrow of the Uzbek regime.

Uzbekistan is a predominantly Muslim nation. However, the country's government is secular. President Islom Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan since 1990.

International human rights groups have accused Karimov of using an alleged terrorism threat in the country as a pretext to repress opposition to his rule.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a pan-Islamic movement with adherents throughout the Muslim world. It is outlawed in most nations, except the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Lebanon.

The group is thought to have relatively strong support among Central Asia's ethnic Uzbeks, who aside from Uzbekistan live in repressive nations Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Tajikistan in 2010 sentenced 150 people to prison terms for alleged membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir, and some 40 people in 2011.