A prominent Uzbek imam, a radical Islamist critical of Uzbekistan’s government, has been gunned down in Istanbul. The imam, who used the name Shaykh Abdullah Bukhoroy, was shot early on December 10 near his home in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district.The imam was born with the name "Mirzagholib" in the Shakhrikon district of Uzbekistan's Andijon Province. After leaving Uzbekistan a decade ago, he opened a madrasa in Istanbul and reportedly was operating eight of them in Turkey at the time of his death.
In October, he claimed that his followers were being persecuted in Uzbekistan and that he was being sought by Uzbekistan's National Security Service.