Detentions and years of imprisonment for reporters and bloggers in Tajikistan have turned journalism into a dangerous profession. Tajikistan’s authorities continue to increase pressure on journalists.
On March 24 it was reported that a criminal case was opened against Rustam Zhoni, a former journalist for Radio Ozodi (a division of Radio Liberty in Tajikistan) who now lives in Prague. This was reported to the editorial office by the investigator of the Sino district police department of the capital city Abdukhakim Shafiev.
He said that Joni was wanted and the authorities would send an official request to Interpol for assistance in arresting him.
According to media reports, Joni is accused of “organizing the activities of an extremist organisation” (part 4 of Article 307 of the Tajik Criminal Code).
Rustami Joni and his wife, Anora Sarkorova, a former BBC radio journalist, described the summons and interrogations of their relatives in Dushanbe as “an attempt to intimidate them” into not publishing critical posts on social media.
Meanwhile, five international human rights organizations called on the Tajik authorities to release detained journalist Khurshed Fozilov.
The corresponding joint statement was released on March 24 by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, International Partnership for Human Rights, Civil Rights Defenders, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Front Line Defenders.
Journalist Khurshed Fozilov, who was reporting for the local media from Pendzhikent, Sughd Province, was detained by security officials on March 6. His relatives reported that he was charged with publicly calling for a violent change in Tajikistan’s constitutional order using the media or the Internet. He is 37 years old and has three children. He is currently being held in a temporary detention facility in Khudzhand. However, his relatives do not accept these accusations.
The five organizations said in a joint statement that Tajik authorities imprisoned seven bloggers and journalists last year and that it seems “the campaign to silence journalists continues. They called the criminal cases against journalists “part of a campaign to suppress dissent in Tajikistan.”
The statement said the country has failed to comply with its commitments to freedom of speech and is handling journalists’ cases behind closed doors, hiding facts from the public.
The authors of the statement believe that Khurshed Fozilov’s case is a whitewash and stated that no evidence of his guilt was voiced, so his detention is contrary to the law. They called on the government of Tajikistan to adhere to its international obligations and to stop persecuting journalists.
Khurshed Fozilov cooperated with independent local and foreign media and wrote mainly about the problems of the residents of the Zerafshan Valley, often criticizing the local authorities. He was also active on social networks.
A few years ago, he was named on state television in Tajikistan as one of the contributors to the independent website Akhbor.com, broadcasting from Prague.
Freedom House named Tajikistan one of the most repressive countries in Central Asia in its most recent report. The organization published its report on March 9, in which Tajikistan received only 7 points out of a possible 100 in the index of freedom.
Freedom House says the reason for such a low score is that last year the republic introduced numerous restrictions on journalists, human rights activists and community organizations. They also point to the detention of reporters and bloggers and the difficult situation of journalists in Tajikistan.
Tajik journalist Mahpora Kiromova refers to the year 2022 as a “very tough” time for journalists and bloggers in Tajikistan.
“Of course, we have felt the tension before, but it seems that last year it was decided to eradicate all signs of freedom of speech. Unfortunately, Article 307 of the Criminal Code was chosen as a tool to combat this, which very simply and easily turned free-thinking and pen-wielding people into extremists,” Kiromova says.
She referred to the arrests of eight journalists and bloggers who were accused of ties to banned and extremist organizations and sentenced to long prison terms. The detentions began in May 2022, following protests in GBAO.
Journalist and social activist Ulfatkhonum Mamadshoeva was arrested on May 17 last year and sentenced to 21 years in prison by year’s end. At the trial, which took place behind closed doors, Mamadshoeva was found guilty of committing grave crimes, including calling for the overthrow of the government (Article 307 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan). The day before her detention, the 65-year-old journalist had spoken to reporters, denying the authorities’ accusations. Following Mamadshoeva, blogger Khushruz Dzhumaev was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison under Article 307 of the Criminal Code.
In June and July 2022 Tajik authorities arrested five Tajik journalists and bloggers – Daler Imomali, Abdullo Gurbati, Mukhammad Sulton, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda and Zavkibek Saidamini. They were all found guilty of affiliation with banned organizations and extremism. Daler Imomali was sentenced to 10 years, four other journalists were sentenced to 7 years in prison. All reporters denied the charges against them and said they were innocent.
In particular, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda wrote in a letter from the detention center that he had been brutally tortured at the Vahdat police station in order to accept responsibility for the crimes he had committed.
The General Prosecutor’s Office later rejected this complaint. An appeal in cassation against the verdict by the arrested journalists was unsuccessful. Despite the abundance of criticism and appeals by human rights organizations, the authorities took no action against these journalists. On the contrary, it seems that detentions of journalists continue.
The arrest of eight journalists and bloggers was the reason why the Committee to Protect Journalists included Tajikistan in the list of 12 “prisons for journalists”.
Nuriddin Karshiboev, head of the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT), says the detention of journalists, including Khurshed Fozilov, is directly related to their professional activities.
“These actions negatively affect the work of other journalists, increase self-censorship in society, and harm the fulfillment of journalism’s mission as a pillar of a democratic society,” he said.
Last summer, Tajikistan’s journalistic community and media reacted violently to the beating of Daler Imomali at the prosecutor’s office and the attack on four correspondents of Radio Ozodi and the TV station Present Time. But the press and journalistic organizations preferred to keep silent about Khurshed Fozilov’s arrest.
Nuriddin Karshiboev notes that “the silence of journalist organizations does not mean they agree with the authorities’ decision to arrest and detain Khurshed Fazilov”.
CABAR.asia’s correspondent telephoned the Media Council, a prominent media organization in Tajikistan, to learn their opinion of the case. However, representatives of this organization said that “since the details of Khurshed Fozilov’s case are unknown, they will not make a statement.
The Center for Investigative Journalism and the SSSR weekly, where Khurshed Fozilov worked, did not even publish the news about his arrest; their leaders would not comment on the situation either.
It should be noted that the Tajik journalistic community has previously encountered problems with reactions to the detention of colleagues. For example, in June 2022, Tajik journalists’ organizations and a number of media outlets, including state media, published a joint statement about Daler Imomali’s torture at the Shokhmansur district prosecutor’s office.
The statement expressed concern over the beating of Daler Imomali and four journalists of Radio Ozodi and Present Time. A few days later, however, the weeklies USSR, Tojikiston, Minbari Hulk, and Sadoi Mardum officially withdrew their statements. Later, the editor-in-chief of the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s Minbari Halk was dismissed from his post. The same fate befell the editor-in-chief of the parliamentary publication Sadoi Mardum.
Nuriddin Karshiboev, argues that one of the reasons for the silence on the Khurshed Fazilov case is the self-censorship of civil society, which is “a consequence of persecution and pressure on pluralism of views in society.
The authorities deny restrictions on freedoms, including pressure on journalists. But after putting eight reporters and bloggers behind bars in a year, it’s clear to the journalistic community that “the boundaries of what is permissible have become narrower.
Abdumalik Kadyrov, head of Tajikistan’s Media Alliance organization, believes that restrictions on freedoms in Tajikistan are linked to the situation in Russia. According to him, the Tajik authorities are committed to Russia and repeat many of its actions – as soon as the suppression of freedoms in that country began, Tajikistan decided to follow its example.
“In this way they want to silence the voices of freethinkers in order to consolidate power,” Kadyrov says.
Ignoring calls for freedom and an end to pressure on journalists leaves little hope for the Tajik journalistic community.
Experts believe Tajik journalists will be able to overcome this difficult period with professionalism and adherence to legal and ethical norms.
“It can’t always be like this. Journalism should not die so easily,” says Makhpora Kiromova.