FSB Detains 10 On Extremist Charges

Agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained 10 people in St. Petersburg on suspicion of being involved with the banned Nurjular Islamic group.

An FSB spokesman in St. Petersburg says five Russians, four Azerbaijanis, and one Turkmen citizen were detained on March 2 after extremist literature in Russian and Turkish was found in their possession.

The Nurjular movement, which was founded by 20th-century Turkish theologian Said Nursi, promotes the notion of a united Islamic world.

It has been banned as an extremist organization in Russia since 2008, when the Supreme Court ruled that Nursi’s writings served to incite hatred and imperiled the religious freedom of non-Muslims.


Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS

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