AKIPRESS.COM - The Tajik Prosecutor General’s Office has launched investigation into fake documents purporting to allow observant Muslims to wear a beard or hijab, reports Asia-plus news service on May 19.

“The Investigation was launched on May 18 and criminal proceedings were instituted under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 189 – incitement of racial ethnic, regional or religious enmity; and Article 340 – document forgery,” an official source at the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office told Asia-Plus in an interview.

We will recall that the Committee on Religious Affairs and Regulation of National Traditions and Rituals under the Government of Tajikistan (CRA) in late April applied to residents of Tajikistan with solicitation to help reveal swindlers engaged in issuing fake documents purporting to allow observant Muslims to wear a beard or hijab.

The permits, adorned with an official-looking stamp, allegedly go for 250 somoni each.

“No one has the right to issue such documents,” the CRA said in a statement, noting that the idea of such permits is “absurd.”

In 2009, the Tajik government banned teachers from wearing beards. Under a dress code introduced by the Ministry of Education, young male teachers are banned from growing beards. Male teachers above the age of 50 are allowed to have beards, but not more than 1 centimeter in length. The ministry's dress code prohibits female teachers from wearing an Islamic headscarf or the hijab, which is banned in all state institutions.