Three members of the Muslim extremist movement Hizb ut-Tahrir are being prosecuted in Shymkent, the administrative center of South Kazakhstan Oblast, for allegedly running a clandestine printing house that produced Hizb-ut-Tahrir literature. The printing house, which was reportedly set up in a Shymkent apartment by three men from Kyzylorda Oblast, was discovered and shut down by security officials in August. The men are being prosecuted for producing and distributing material inciting interethnic and interconfessional hatred. Major Kanat Imanaliev, deputy head of the antiterrorism department of the Shymkent National Security Committee branch, complained that Hizb ut-Tahrir is not officially banned in Kazakhstan, making it more difficult for the authorities to deal with it. He added that among the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir members who have been questioned in connection with the printing-house case were a number of government employees. Previously, he said, movement members were usually unemployed. Imanaliev declined to specify how many Hizb ut-Tahrir members there are in South Kazakhstan Oblast. (KazInform)