The TV said that recently, a court in central Samarqand Region considered a case against several members of the group, "who promoted the sect’s ideas". It said, over video of a court trial in which a group of young men were shown in the dock, that the defendants were found guilty of "setting up, leading and being involved in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist organizations". "By a court ruling, the defendants were sentenced to from seven to 11 years in prison," the programme said.

Over video of prison cells and people rallying in streets, the programme said that the Nurchilar organization was founded in 1945 by a Turkish mullah, Said Nursi, who was famous for his "extremist" views and was jailed in Turkey for his efforts to undermine the country’s constitutional order.

Nurchilar uses educational establishments to achieve its goals, the programme said. "The majority of teachers of Uzbek-Turkish lyceums, which were set up in Uzbekistan in the first years of independence, were representatives of the Nurchilar sect, who came from Turkey. They promoted pan-Turkic ideas among the students," it said.

It also featured an interview with Hasan Karimov, captioned as a member of Nurchilar, who said that, while studying at an Uzbek-Turkish lyceum, he had studied books and listened to audio tapes explaining the group’s ideas.

Another interviewee, Bakhtiyor Fatayev, who was also captioned as a member of Nurchilar, said that teachers of the lyceums familiarized the students with Said Nursi’s books during informal meetings and conversations held after classes.

The programme also showed an interview with an Islamic expert, Nuriymon Abulhasan, who said Turkish culture, language and values were instilled in students at these lyceums.

The Uzbek-Turkish lyceums were closed in the late 1990s but representatives of Nurchilar returned to Uzbekistan and resumed activities in 2006, the broadcast went on to say. It said that a former student of an Uzbek-Turkish lyceum, Bahrom Ibrohimov, helped to resume the group’s work and promoted its ideas by publishing special newspapers and magazines. "They started to resume the Nurchilar sect’s activities in Uzbekistan through Bahrom Ibrohimov," the broadcast said.

Over video of buildings and young people taking classes, the programme said that the group also set up training centres and used them to push its ideas. "Nurchilar did not limit itself to publishing newspapers and magazines, it turned its attention to another sphere and started to set up training centres. Such training centres were initially set up in Tashkent and then in the regions," it said.

Another religious expert, Uygun Gofurov, was shown saying that "some members of Nurchilar came to our country through various Turkish firms, commercial firms and training centres".

"Various ideas and ideologies are fighting in various regions of the world today to occupy people’s minds and establish domination. Every citizen of our country who cares about the country’s fate and future, should be able to respond to malicious powers that are trampling on our ancient, sacred values and trying to threaten our peaceful, quiet life," the programme said in conclusion.