In the city of Yangiyul, the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan police officers called to the Department of Dozens of Men and forced the beard to them. It is reported by the Uzbek Radio Service Liberty.
One of the victims became icons of holmates. According to a man, law enforcement officers summoned him to the department on November 22 for interrogation “in the case of some kind of wanted woman.” Police workers checked his phone, after which they began to take pictures.
“then declared me:” If you don’t wake yourself, then we will whims for you. “I explained to them that he constantly followed his beard and not growing too long beard, but I stated that it was not suitable for me,” said Kholmates.
The man assured that he refused to shave, but did it under the pressure of law enforcement officers. Over the past four months, he was twice called into the internal affairs bodies and forced him to shave beard.
According to the local activist, police officers actively resort to such methods. Over the last month, only one Yangiyul has a beard of 22 men.
“shave the beards make only believers. In conversation, many people say that it is systematically,” he added.
At the same time, the police deny that they forced men shave. The representative of the department assures that “during photographing, law enforcement officers could ask men to streamline their beards”, at the same time “no one could make them shave beard.”
The victims insist: the beards they shaved only because of religious beliefs.
“They say that we supposedly seem to them terrorists,” says one of the inhabitants of Yangiyul.
This is not the first similar campaign in Uzbekistan. In June 2021, in Angren, men were also called in the police departments and swank their beards, and in Bukhara, fans with a beard were not allowed to a football match.
Uzbekistan’s authorities openly not talking about the campaign against a beard, but in September 2019, Shukhrat Ganiev, who at that time held the position of head of the Fergana region, at one of the meetings instructed his subordinates to start a campaign against wearing a beard in men and hijabs in women.
Wearing beard in Uzbekistan is regarded as a sign of religious radicalism, and the places of cluster of men with a beard are always in the center of attention of the special services.