Two Muslim clerics arrested in Russia amid confusing, unconfirmed reports of wider crackdown

Over the past several days, Russian Telegram channels and pro-Kremlin commentators have reported that several people connected to the Spiritual Administration of Muslims ( The Spiritual Administration of Muslims is a nationwide Russian Muslim religious organization, a muftiate. It was established in Moscow in 1994. The organization has been led by Ravil Gainutdin (Gainutdinov) since its founding.

">SAM ) of Russia have been detained. It has been officially confirmed that two people were detained: the Mufti of Mordovia, Rail Asainov, and the former Mufti of Karelia, Imam Wisam Ali Bardwil. The first case involves criminal charges; the second is administrative. Reports of detentions of other Muslim religious figures have not been confirmed. The first to report the detentions was Orkhan Gasanzade, a blogger who describes himself as a political scientist and international relations analyst. He wrote about it on May 19 in his Telegram channel, which has 700 subscribers. According to his account: In Saransk, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Mordovia. Has held the rank of mufti since April 2023. ">Rail Asainov and five active members of the Muslim community of Mordovia were detained In Moscow, the imam of a mosque in Yuzhnoye Butovo and former Mufti of Karelia, Chairman of the Union of Islamic Organizations, imam-khatib (preacher) of the Yuzhnoye Butovo mosque, a native of Palestine, and a member of the Council of Ulema of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia. Petersburg, Muslim preacher Muhammad Henni, who in 2007 was accused of inciting interfaith hatred In Saratov, the deputy mufti of the Saratov region, a native of Palestine named Nidal al-Hikh, who in 2019 received a written warning from Russia’s Federal Security Service about the “inadmissibility of treason against the state” The information was later amplified by Dmitry Steshin, a “war correspondent” and staffer at the pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, and by Ruslan Ostashko , host of the television program “Vremya Pokazhet” on Channel One. Ostashko claimed that the detained representatives of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims “turned out to be connected to the organization The organization was founded in Egypt in 1928. The Muslim Brotherhood became the first mass organization to profess the ideology now known as Islamism.

Key points

• ">SAM ) of Russia have been detained.
• It has been officially confirmed that two people were detained: the Mufti of Mordovia, Rail Asainov, and the former Mufti of Karelia, Imam Wisam Ali Bardwil.
• The first case involves criminal charges; the second is administrative.
• Reports of detentions of other Muslim religious figures have not been confirmed.
• The first to report the detentions was Orkhan Gasanzade, a blogger who describes himself as a political scientist and international relations analyst.