Kazakhstan National Security Commission mulls isolating convicted terrorists

Kazakhstan National Security Commission is thinking of a more efficient way of jailing convicted terrorists so that they do not spread their ideas among other prisoners, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy head of the National Security Commission Kabdulkarim Abdikazimov. During discussion of a draft law on countering terrorism deputy Mukhtar Tinikeyev asked the official whether the Commission considered creating a separate jail for criminals convicted for terrorism. "Indeed, this is a threat; they create conditions for radicalization of other convicts. The National Security Commission raised this issue a long time ago. We are also studying international experience in the area. We know that separate jailing is currently used in such countries as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Uzbekistan has this system as well. We have studied these issues and made some proposals. These proposals are being implemented these days," deputy head of the National Security Commission said. According to him, over 370 people convicted for involvement in terrorism and extremism are being kept in Kazakhstan's correctional facilities. "If we jail them separately, we will face the problem with persuading them to change their views, correcting their behavior and getting them to abandon the radical ideology altogether. This also causes certain difficulties. That's why the decision was made to keep in solitary confinement the criminals who negatively effect other prisoners. Solitary confinement is used in Arkalyk, Zhezkazgan, in several isolators of Almaty and South-Kazakhstan oblasts. We are implementing and will further study this practice. We will make the conclusions as soon as we gain some experience and will jointly work out this problem," Abdikazimov said. By Renat Tashkinbayev