Top Kyrgyz Mufti Steps Down Amid Sex Video Leak

Kyrgyzstan’s grand mufti Rakhmatulla-Hajji Egemberdiev resigned over sex video Kyrgyzstan’s grand mufti has resigned following a scandal over a leaked sex video allegedly showing him committing adultery with a young woman, Radio Liberty reported on Tuesday, ria.ru reports.

Grand Mufti Rakhmatulla-Hajji Egemberdiev stepped down days after the sex romp video started circulating online on New Year’s Eve prompting a protest calling for his resignation earlier this week, the report said.

Egemberdiev, who is also suspected of tax evasion, maintained that the unidentified woman on the tape is his second wife, even though polygamy is officially illegal in Kyrgyzstan.

In an interview with Radio Liberty, he insisted that the tape’s release was a political move orchestrated in order to replace him with a more loyal mufti.

The new grand mufti will be elected at a Congress of Kyrgyz Muslims on February 8, the report said.

Egemberdiev has become the sixth mufti replaced in Kyrgyzstan in the past four years amid a series of allegations.