Moscow Persecutes Muslim Women in Crimea

News:

On 10 September, the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre news agency reported: “The unlawful detention of four Crimean Tatar women – Esma Nimetullaeva, Nasiba Saidova, Elviza Aliyeva and Fevziye Osmanova – has once again been extended until 14 October 2026. The women are defendants in the so-called “first women’s case of Hizb ut Tahrir”.

According to “Suspilne Krym”, the FSB has concluded the so-called pre-trial “investigation” into the case of the Crimean Tatar women. Since 5 September, Russian security forces have begun reviewing the case files. The Crimean Tatar women are charged with Part 1 under the Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of RF which provides liability for participation in activities of “Hizb ut Tahrir”.

Furthermore, they are charged with the preparation to ”forcible seize of power” – Article 278 in conjunction with Part 1 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of RF.

It should be recalled that four Crimean Tatar women were unlawfully detained by Russian occupation security forces on the morning of 15 October 2025 during mass raids in Crimea”.

Comment:

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the peninsula’s Muslims faced yet more hardships. Abductions, murders, arrests and long prison sentences have become the norm for Crimean Muslims.

The persecution carried out by the Kremlin’s repressive system has also affected Muslim women in Crimea.

Initially, this took the form of administrative fines and arrests; today, it has escalated to charges of “seizing power”. For almost a year now, four Crimean Muslim women have been held in prison. According to human rights activists and lawyers, the charges are formulaic and do not stand up to any scrutiny. Human rights activists note that the FSB automatically adds the charge of ‘seizing power’ to all cases related to Islamic political party of “Hizb ut Tahrir”, in order to strengthen the case and ensure the maximum prison sentences of up to 15–20 years’ imprisonment.

As regards the trial of Esma Nimetullaeva, Nasiba Saidova, Elviza Aliyeva and Fevziye Osmanova, the court proceedings are deliberately being held behind closed doors. The security forces are preventing the women’ parents from entering the court building. Furthermore, following their arrest, the women were subjected to compulsory forensic psychiatric assessments, completely cutting them off from their families.

According to the latest figures from human rights organisations, as of September 2026, more than fifty Crimean women are being held in prisons and pre-trial detention centres (SIZOs) across the Russian Federation and in occupied Crimea, where they are being persecuted on political or religious grounds. Through such harsh methods of persecution and terror, the Kremlin is attempting to intimidate the Muslims of Crimea and subjugate them to its will. Who will help the Muslims of Crimea to free themselves from the oppression and tyranny of the disbelieving Kremlin, and how!?

Neither the King of Saudi Arabia, bin Salman, nor the President of Turkey, R. Erdogan, nor any other ruler in the Muslim countries will come to the aid of the Muslims of Crimea. These leaders are themselves on friendly terms with Putin and are helping him to persecute Islam and Muslims, even on Muslim soil.

The righteous ruler of Muslims can help to get rid of Russian oppression and to free Muslims from prisons. The absence of the righteous ruler became the root cause of endless troubles and misfortunes of Muslims of Crimea and other territories. Just work on the revival of the Islamic way of life according to the method of the Prophethood and establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) led by the righteous ruler will relieve Muslims from misfortune and suffering. In Imam Muslim’s collection, it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

«إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ، يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» “The imam is a shield behind which people fight and by which they are protected”.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Eldar Khamzin