Zohrab Shikhaliyev Not Radical - His Relatives

The religious activist Zohrab Shikhaliyev arrested in Jorat yesterday is not a radical. This opinion was expressed to Turan by Imam of the Salafi mosque Abu Bakr closed by the authorities, Gamet Suleymanov.

According to him, Shikhaliyev was against religious radicalism, so his arrest was received with surprise. Suleymanov also does not believe that Shikhaliyev could store weapons.

As for the allegations of building an illegal mosque, Shikhaliyev built himself a house, not a mosque, said Suleymanov.

According to him, the house is still under construction, and its basement was used for namaz.

In Sumgait there is no Sunni mosque, and the Salafis have problems with a place for namaz.

Shikhaliyev was previously criticized for the fact that he created the conditions for the namaz prayer, and open pressure on him began six months ago.

Together with Shikhaliyev were arrested 9 people. After 10 hours, they were released and told to come to the police today at 9.00.

One of the detainees, Zaur Mehdiyev told Turan that the police treated them rudely and insulted them. However, they gave no explanation of the reason for the detention.

"We were told to shave our beards and come back the next morning. But we are not going to shave off our beards and we did not go to the police," said Mehdiyev.

Recall that the police accused Shikhaliyev of illegal construction of a mosque, possession of weapons, ammunition and banned literature.  -05B-