Residents of Chechnya report on law enforcers' kidnapping of young woman in hijab

In central Grozny, law enforcers drove a young woman dressed in Muslim clothing away to some unknown place. Eyewitnesses of the incident are not aware of her further fate. They believe the young woman was kidnapped.

According to Madina A., a resident of Grozny, who witnessed the incident, the young woman in a hijab was kidnapped near the secondary medical school in the afternoon of September 17.

"The young woman stood in the street, and she was dressed in a long dress and a big dark headscarf which covered her forehead and chin. Then, she was approached by several law enforcers, who talked rude to her and took her away with them," the "Caucasian Knot" was told by the eyewitness.

Officials from the law enforcement bodies refused to comment on the information about the kidnapping of a young woman in hijab.

According to a leader of a Chechen NGO, the information that law enforcers kidnap young women wearing hijabs began to spread after on September 15, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov delivered a speech at the meeting with the leaders of the law enforcement bodies in Grozny.

"People disseminate frightening rumours. My law enforcement source has confirmed that they received instructions to detain all women in hijabs and young people 'looking like Wahhabis', check their mobile phones and register those persons for further control," the "Caucasian Knot" was told by an NGO leader who preferred to remain anonymous.

According to his story, at the meeting with heads of law enforcement bodies held in Grozny on September 15, Ramzan Kadyrov stated that he would not allow "Wahhabis to raise their heads." "Kadyrov addressed his explicit threats to women in hijabs. He said literally that every man, whose house is left by girls and women in hijabs with covered chins, should know that law enforcers will detain them, check their pockets and even take off their underwear," the man said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.