DUSHANBE. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Eleven people have been detained in Tajikistan on suspicion of membership in the Islamic group Salafia, which is classed as extremist in Tajikistan, the press service for the Tajik Interior ministry reported on Monday.
"The eleven citizens of Tajikistan detained in the Sogdiysk region are suspected of membership in the extremist group Salafia," the press service said.
"As a rule, people who join Salafists are young people who received religious education in countries such as the UAE, Pakistan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia," the press service reported.
In December 2014, a court in southern Tajikistan sentenced four members of the group to six years in prison. The convicts were aged between 30 and 35. Twelve Salafists were convicted in September 2014.
The Salafist movement emerged in the 18th century. It promotes the interpretation of Islam "in the way the Prophet saw it," denying any changes made to the religion during contacts between Islamic states and the western world. The Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is banned in Egypt, is a Salafist movement. Salafists are the dominant majority in Saudi Arabia.
In secular countries, specifically in Central Asian countries, Salafism is considered an extremist movement due to Salafists' intolerance of follows of non-Muslims and Muslims who they believe have the wrong interpretation of Islam.
In 2014, the Tajik Supreme Court officially found the movement Salafia to be extremist. Salafism is a crime under Article 198 of the Tajik Criminal Code (inciting ethnic, racial, local or religions feud).