Court in Russia bans “How to Accept Islam” book

PanARMENIAN.Net - A court in south Russia has banned as “extremist” a book entitled “How to Accept Islam,” officials said on Tuesday, April 2, according to RIA Novosti.

The Krasnoyarsk district court ordered all copies of the book to be confiscated and destroyed.

Investigators, citing linguistic experts, said the book, by Muhammad Suleiman Ashkara encouraged religious hatred.

The court said the book was discovered during a May 2011 raid at the Krasnoyarsk home of a man suspected of links to an extremist Islamic organization.

The book had not, however, been added to the Justice Ministry’s extensive list of extremist materials as of Tuesday afternoon.

Russia's laws aimed at countering extremism were originally passed in 2002 and later amended in 2007. Originally introduced in a bid to curb promotion of nationalism and religious and sectarian hatred by fringe political groups, critics say the laws are often misused to put pressure on religious minorities or those who criticize the establishment.