Eight people, suspected of belonging to the banned Uzbek Islamic Movement (UIM), were arrested on 5 December in the city of Khudzhand in northern Tajikistan, Interfax reported. "A 37-year-old Uzbek and a 41-year-old Russian from the Mordova region, who are accused of membership in the Uzbek Islamic Movement, were detained," a source from the Tajik Interior Ministry said. "Six other people from northern Tajikistan were also apprehended," the source said. The men were detained while distributing leaflets calling for a coup d'etat, according to Interfax. Several dozen people suspected of links to the Uzbek Islamic Movement and Hizb-ut-Tahrir have been arrested in Tajikistan since the beginning of 2005. (www.interfax.ru, December 6)