A library photo for Russian Muslims

By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, April 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Russian Muslims will have their first ever rights group, which will defend their economic, political and religious rights and clear stereotypes tarnishing their image, Muslim rights activists announced Monday, April 12.

The director of the Russian center for human rights, Kamel Kalandrov, told a news briefing the center intends to set up a socio-political organization to serve Muslims in the Russian federation.

The new body will help redeem the image of the Muslim community, be the middleman between the authorities and immigrants, cement ties with law enforcement bodies and provide legal and financial assistance to needy Muslim families.

The Russian center for human rights, the union of the Muslim journalists in Russia and the Islamic center for human rights will lay the groundwork for the organization, Kalandrov said.

The announcement followed unrest in the southwestern city of Volgograd last week, when a Russian mob rampaged through a market place employing immigrants, mostly Muslims, killing at least one Muslim and injuring around 40 others.

Ismail Shangaryev, member of the Council of the Muftis of Russia and the director of the Islamic center for human rights, denounced the attack.

"All Russians must respect law and constitution and all [neo] Nazis, who contempt religious and human values should stand trial," he said.

The press briefing was also attended by Radik Ameriov, the director of the union of Muslims journalists in Russia, and Muslim scholar Damir Yaqoubov.

The participants have met with representatives of the Orthodox Church and other religious denominations in the country, who unanimously condemned the Volgograd riots.

A source at the Islamic center for human rights told IslamOnline.net that Russian Muslims of Tajik and Uzbek origins reported to police on racist crimes committed by neo-Nazis in Moscow.

Russia has a Muslim population of 23 million, representing roughly 15 percent of its 145 million population, according to a 2003 census.