Officials of the Dagestani "Tangim" Mosque treat raids on believers as radicalization factor

The regular Friday law enforcers' raids at the "Tangim" Mosque in Makhachkala create an image of illegality for it and frighten off the believers. Forced to avoid visiting the mosque, such believers are trying to search for religious information on the Internet and risk to fall under the influence of radical views, the representative of the mosque have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 25, parishioners of the mosque noticed a strengthening of the raids.

During the several years of raids at the "Tangim" Mosque, policemen have brought several thousand parishioners to police stations and checked them. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has not reported on any criminals and offenders found during these raids, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has noted.

Law enforcers' raids are one of the forms of exerting pressure on the mosque, said Mukhammad Magomedov, the press attaché of the mosque. By treating the parishioners as extremists, law enforcers create an image of its illegality, thereby reducing the number of its parishioners.

The raids conducted by law enforcers only create the visibility of fight against extremism, Akhmad Chililov, the chairman of the public council of the "Tangim" Mosque, believes.

Earlier, Dagestani law enforcers used to put people on the so-called "prophylactic registry" for wearing beards or visiting the mosque.