On July 3, 2009, a first instance court in Astana granted the prosecutor general’s request to add 207 print, audio, and digital materials to the Kazakh government’s list of extremist materials and media, and to ban their publication, import, and dissemination in Kazakhstan. The materials included audio recordings of Sheikh Mishari Rashid—a prominent Quran reciter and Imam—reading 18 various Quranic surahs. Thus, by fully granting the prosecutor’s request, the court labeled parts of the Quran extremist and illegal in Kazakhstan.