IT WAS prayer time at the Northern Mosque in Khasavyurt, a town in western Dagestan, when troops in black balaclavas arrived one day in February. “They said: ‘This mosque is closing—turn off the lights and hand over the keys,’” recalls one of the congregants. The next day Muhammad Nabi Magomedov, a local imam, led some 5,000 Salafi believers in a march on city hall, chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Return our mosque”. In early April, the security services came for Mr Magomedov, arresting him on terrorism-related charges.
Once in custody, the imam was told to shave off his beard. Then six men took him into a room. “One said: ‘Get on your knees,’” Mr Magomedov later told a member of Russia’s prison oversight committee, who shared details of their conversation with The Economist. “I said, I won’t get on my knees.” The men beat Mr Magomedov, sending a clear signal to the ultra-conservative Salafi community: there will be no dialogue. “It’s a shame,” says Rasul, one of Mr Magomedov’s young followers. “He was one of the peaceful ones.”
Since last autumn, the authorities in Dagestan have ramped...Continue reading
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