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Two held for shooting imam in northern Sweden
2012-05-17
The two men, both of whom are in their 30s, were arrested in Skåne in southern Sweden on Tuesday.

They are suspected of involvement in the February 22nd shooting of Obydkhon Sobitkhony Nazarov, who had served as an imam in Strömsund, where he has lived since coming to Sweden in 2006 as a political refugee from Uzbekistan.

According to prosecutor Krister Petersson, both suspects also hail from Uzbekistan.

One speaks English proficiently, as well as some Swedish, while the other speaks only Uzbek and Russian.

On Wednesday, they were transported from Skåne to Östersund in northern Sweden where investigators continue their efforts to figure out who was behind the shooting of Nazarov.

Nazarov is a known critic of the regime in Uzbekistan and came to Sweden along with scores of other political refugees after a 2005 crackdown by Uzbek government troops in Andijan in which hundreds of protesters were killed, although the exact number of casualties remains in dispute.

At the time of the incident, known as the Andijan massacre, the Uzbek government claimed the demonstrations were organized by Islamic radicals.

In the wake of the influx of Uzbek refugees, Strömsund, a town of just over 4,000 residents, has seen a rise in hate crimes ranging from racist graffiti to the burning down of a mosque in the city in 2008.
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Europe
Uzbek Imam Capped In Sweden
2012-02-24
A 54-year-old imam was found shot in the head in Strömsund in northwestern Sweden on Wednesday in what police have classified as attempted murder. Police received a call around 1:30pm on Wednesday afternoon that the man, identified by Sveriges Television (SVT) as Obydkhon Sobitkhony, had been found bullet shot with gun shot wounds.

"He was shot at least once in the head, but there may have been more shots. He was improving for awhile last night but during the day on Thursday certain complications came up which have made his condition worse," Östersund police detective Ted Persson told the local Östersunds Posten (ÖP) newspaper on Thursday.

Sobitkhony, who is known by the surname Nazarov, serves as a holy man in Strömsund, where he has lived since coming to Sweden in 2006 as a political refugee from Uzbekistan.

He is being treated at hospital in Umeå for what have been described as life threatening injuries.

According to SVT, a gun believed to be used in Wednesday's shooting was found near where Sobitkhony lay and around 30 officers participated in the preliminary investigation by combing the scene for clues and knocking on doors in the vicinity.

"The door knocking as yielded positive results thus far," Persson told the newspaper.

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...

local police have made an appeal to the public for more information about the shooting.

Sobitkhony is a known critic of the regime in Uzbekistan and came to Sweden along with scores of other political refugees after a 2005 crackdown by Uzbek government troops in Andijan in which hundreds of protesters were killed, although the exact number of casualties remains in dispute.

At the time of the incident, known as the Andijan massacre, the Uzbek government claimed the demonstrations were organized by Islamic radicals.

In the wake of the influx of Uzbek refugees, Strömsund, a town of just over 4,000 residents, has seen a rise in hate crimes ranging from racist graffiti to the burning down of a mosque in the city in 2008.

According to SVT, there were threats against Sobitkhony but, police were unwilling to confirm or deny the existence of threats directed against the imam.

"However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...

there are threats against other Uzbeks who are currently in Strömsund," said Persson.

While local police are running the investigation, both Interpol and Swedish security service Säpo have been informed of the incident.

"For the moment, we don't have any suspects, but we do have some forensic evidence," Persson told ÖP.
Link



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