Kadyrov publishes address by Chechen man imprisoned in Iraq calling on Muslims not to join ISIL
MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - Khasan Tagirov, a Chechen native, who is on the international wanted persons list and who left for Syria and was imprisoned in Iraq, calls on young Muslims not to join ISIL.
"If someone wants to join ISIL (terrorist organization banned in Russia], they should give up this idea. It's a game, [...], it's not a caliphate, not an Islamic state. This organization was created to gather the most active Muslims in one place and destroy them," Tagirov said in an address posted by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, on Telegram on Sunday.
Tagirov, a native of Grozny, left for Syria in February 2014. A criminal case has been opened against him in Russia on the basis of Part 2 of Article 208 of the Russian Criminal Code. He was put on the wanted persons list and arrested in absentia in February 2016. In August 2017, Tagirov was found in the debris of the city of Mosul wounded and was imprisoned in Iraq.
Tagirov said "a huge number of people came here," but "they were all deceived." "Women came, following their husbands, they brought children and [children] were born here too. But everyone died in Mosul. I think I am the only Russian-speaking person who survived. Everyone was killed by the U.S. aviation bombing. There were some 800 Russian-speaking women and children: Chechens, Dagestanis, Russians, other nationalities. Everyone was killed. Not a single person survived," Kadyrov quoted Tagirov as saying.