Uzbekistan Jails Eight for Funding Terrorism via Fake Charity

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan's State Security Service (SSS), operating jointly with internal affairs agencies, has dismantled a terror financing network spanning five regions of the country, resulting in convictions for all eight suspects, authorities announced.

According to investigators, eight individuals residing across Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Andijan, and Fergana regions transferred funds to an account linked to the terrorist organization Guraba Katiba. The suspects were born between 1987 and 1998.

The money trail led to a Kyrgyz national identified as Abdulmukhsin Usmanov, born in 1996, who allegedly operated under the alias "Saad Mukhtor." Usmanov is accused of running a fundraising scheme through Telegram, presenting the operation as charitable giving in support of Muslims in Palestine. Investigators determined that the collected funds were in fact directed toward financing terrorist groups operating in Syria.

A court handed down prison sentences ranging from three to eight years to seven of the convicted. The eighth defendant received a restricted liberty sentence of four years and four months.

The SSS noted that under Article 155-3 of Uzbekistan's Criminal Code, terrorism financing carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment — indicating that sentences handed down fell well below the statutory ceiling, likely reflecting varying degrees of individual culpability across the group.

Authorities closed with a direct public warning, urging citizens to exercise caution and refrain from participating in suspicious fundraising campaigns on social media — an acknowledgment that Telegram and similar platforms remain active vectors for terror financing recruitment across the region.