Ashgabat, Muslims forced to drink vodka and shave their beards ​

Police claim that drinking alcohol and shaving beards are signs that people are not "terrorists" and Wahhabi radicals.  The fight against "religious extremists" also takes place by arresting people who pray at home.  In the name of health prevention, mosques and public places also closed.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In the province of Lebap in Turkmenistan, the police monitor and repress citizens who observe Islamic traditions, forcing them to drink alcohol and shave their beards, to prove they are not terrorists.  This was reported by Radio Azatlik yesterday.  Apparently, these checks have always been there, but now the police have switched to more widespread forms, also acting on reports lodged by ordinary citizens against their neighbors.

A 30-year-old resident of Farab, in the province of Lebap, who calls himself Didar, says that "since the middle of last week, men up to 55 years old who observe Islamic customs have begun to convene in the premises of the local administration, to carry out  rehabilitation sessions.  The police rely on citizens' reports”.  The local correspondent of Radio Azatlik confirms: a few days ago, the police stopped bearded men on the street, accusing them of being "religious extremists" and "Wahhabis".  The arrests took place abruptly, using a decidedly vulgar vocabulary.  Didar himself was one of those arrested.

He says: “I hadn't shaved for a few weeks because I was very busy.  In reality my beard is only visible when I take off the mask, which I always keep on as a precaution, like everyone else.  Last Wednesday I was walking down a street in the center, when some policemen come towards me, shouting that I had a beard, and taking me to the police station.  They asked me if I follow religious traditions and if I regularly drink alcohol, questioning me for over two hours ”.

Didar also asked if among his acquaintances there are people who observe Islamic religious norms, and he replied that he does not know any.  "Then the policemen shaved my beard, explaining that my face with a three-week beard did not match the passport photograph."  Later, they forced him to drink a glass of vodka, telling him: “Drink it, if you are not Wahhabi”, and without explanation forced him to pay a fine of 50 manat (12 euros), without issuing any receipt.  On the same day, at least a dozen people found themselves in situations similar to Didar at the police station.

Azatlik's correspondents also report another case.  Last January 22, Farab police broke into a private house where 10 people were gathered for Friday prayers, and arrested everyone present.  Those arrested were locked up in the temporary cells of the police headquarters, accused of "violation of health quarantine rules".  According to an inhabitant of the area, the fate of those arrested has not yet been decided.

Health measures are now used in several countries as a means of repression.  Due to anti-coronavirus regulations, the Turkmen authorities have closed mosques and other public places, although in reality, political power fears their spread.  Representatives of the administration of the velayat (province) of Lebap refused to provide explanations, as did the etrap (municipalities) of Charjousk and Farab.

The ban on wearing a beard is not explicit in any law, but has been applied for many years to oral provisions from the country's leadership, led by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (photos 3 and 4).  In 2007 he succeeded the first post-Soviet president, Saparmirat Nyyazov, who died a year earlier.

In the country, of about 6 million inhabitants, 93%  are Muslims.  5% are Eastern rite Christians.