Human rights activists condemn detention of Crimean Tatar women in Crimea

Human rights organizations published a joint statement in response to the detention of four Crimean Tatar women in Crimea on October 15, 2025. This is the first known case where Russian authorities have opened a case on charges of involvement of women in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization.

The detainees are Esma Nimetulaieva (mother of five children and wife of a political prisoner), Nasiba Saidova (student and kindergarten teacher), Elviza Aliieva (bakery worker), and Fevziie Osmanova (21-year-old resident of the village of Orlovka). All of them were taken to the FSB building in Simferopol and, by an illegal decision of the occupation court, were taken into custody for two months.

In the statement, human rights activists condemn the politically motivated persecution of Crimean Tatar women, demand their immediate release, and appeal to the Ukrainian authorities and the international community to take decisive action.

Human rights activists emphasize: the number of women persecuted for political reasons is increasing in Crimea. Before 2022 there were up to 5 of them, but now there are over 40. Occupation courts ignore the fact that many of them have young children, elderly parents, or health problems.

CrimeaSOS and other human rights organizations call on the Ukrainian authorities and the international community to make every effort to release the detainees and increase pressure on Russia to stop the repression in Crimea. You may read the full statement following the link.

Earlier, human rights activists issued a statement regarding the illegal re-imprisonment of sick political prisoner Lenur Khalilov.