The Memorial human rights project recognized Abubakar Rizvanov, a native of Dagestan, and Kemal Tambiev from the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic as political prisoners. Their charitable activities in Dagestan were regarded as support for terrorism, and in September 2023 the men were sentenced to 18 and 17.5 years in a maximum security colony, respectively.

Initially, entrepreneur Kemal Tambiev, through the Amana Foundation, organized a fundraiser to help orphans, seriously ill people and Syrian refugees. Lawyer Abubakar Rizvanov was a co-founder of the Ansar children's aid fund and organized the construction of a school for Koran readers (hafiz).

In 2019, both were arrested along with a journalist from Dagestan, Abdulmumin Gadzhiev. They were accused under articles of “participation in the activities of terrorist organizations” and “financing terrorism.”

According to investigators, Gadzhiev published articles about the Ansar charity foundation and did not mention that part of the money collected was sent to the Islamic State (an organization banned in the Russian Federation). At the same time, the examinations did not find any signs of justification for terrorism in Hajiyev’s articles, and prosecution witnesses spoke in favor of the defendants.

As for Rizvanov and Tambiev, the investigation claims that they transferred money to support illegal armed groups of ISIS. At the same time, the Hifiz school allegedly “performed the role of ideological and material support for the militants.” There is no evidence in the case materials that children were taught with the aim of inculcating extremist ideology. Witnesses also reported that the funds paid for the education of children from low-income families.