DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) — Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced dozens of people to prison terms for belonging to a banned Islamic organization.
The court says 23 members of the Jamaat al Tabligh were ordered Wednesday to serve from three to six years in prison, and another 33 were ordered to pay fines up to $16,000.
Officials say the trial was held at a detention facility in Dushanbe for security reasons.
Jailing members of banned religious groups is common in this Central Asian nation, and some have accused authorities of exaggerating the danger of such groups as grounds for stamping out political freedoms.
Tajikistan designated Jamaat al Tabligh an extremist group in 2006. Its members say it's a nonviolent, apolitical missionary movement.
