Photo from UNIAN (illustration)

In the early hours of Thursday, July 19, Russian security operatives searched the Alushta home of a Crimean Tatar Muslim Aliyev, who is already in custody awaiting trial in a politically motivated "terrorism" case, as part of a probe of his daughter, Gulsum Aliyev.

Following the search, Aliyeva, who is an activist with civic initiative Crimean Solidarity, the organization reporting on Crimean political prisoners, was taken to the investigator’s office for questioning, Hromadske International reports.

Although the woman was released later the same day, activists and rights groups report that authorities suspect Aliyeva of extremism, and launched an investigation into her work with the Crimean Solidarity.

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Mobile phones and other personal communication and computer equipment was confiscated during the search.

Following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, the de-facto authorities in the occupied Crimea launched a repression campaign against Crimean Tatars, many of whom oppose Moscow’s presence on the peninsula.

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Aliyeva’s father, Muslim Aliyev was detained in February 2016 in Yalta alongside Emir-Usein Kuku, Enver Bekirov, and Vadim Siruk. They are among some two dozen Crimean Muslims charged with involvement in a terrorist organization over their alleged links to an Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The organization is legal in Ukraine and most other countries but has been outlawed in Russia as a "terrorist group."

Crimean Tatar Resource Center communications manager Elvir Sagirman reported that 56 searches of Crimean Tatar homes had been carried out across the occupied peninsula since year-start.

Sagirman explained that most searches were connected to the alleged “dissemination of extremist materials in social networks” and Crimean Tatars’ involvement with banned organizations.