MOSCOW, September 15 (RAPSI, Evgeniya Sokolova) – The Moscow City Court has upheld the extension of the house arrest term for Moscow imam Makhmud Velitov, who is charged with justifying terrorism, RAPSI learned in the court on Thursday.

On August 25, the Butyrsky District Court of Moscow prolonged Velitov’s house arrest until October 27.

Velitov’s lawyer asked the court to release his client from house arrest because of Velitov’s disability.

On September 23, 2013, Velitov, being a council chair and imam of a religious organization, made a public speech justifying activity of one of Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami terrorist organization’s members during a prayer in a Moscow mosque, according to the Investigative Committee. This organization has been banned by Russia’s Supreme Court.

“As follows from the conclusion of a forensic examination, the imam’s speech contained a set of psychological and linguistic features of justifying terrorist activities,” the investigators’ statement reads.

According to defense, Velitov performed a religious ritual allowed by canons of Islam regarding a deceased Muslim.

Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Islamic Liberation), founded in Jerusalem in 1953, is banned in several Arab and Central Asian countries. Russia's Supreme Court banned the group from operating on the territory of the country in 2003, describing it as a terrorist organization.

Hizb ut-Tahrir members are regularly arrested by the police across Russia, mainly in big cities in central Russia, the Volga region and Siberia. Also, there are many supporters in Crimea, which rejoined Russia last spring.