Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested members of an alleged "terrorist cell" in Crimea, the RIA Novosti news service reported Wednesday.
The individuals are believed to be members of the the illegal organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, according to an unnamed law enforcement source.The FSB declined to comment.
Four members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami organization were found guilty in September of promoting the overthrow of the constitutional order and replacing it with a theocratic Islamic State.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international organization seeking to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate and enforce Islamic Sharia law. It is officially banned as a terrorist organization in Russia, Germany, Turkey, and many Arab countries. It is not banned in Ukraine, though, which maintains territorial claims on Crimea. Ukrainian foreign ministry has already demanded to stop the prosecution of Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority in Crimea to which the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir members belong.
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