The Tajik media community protests against the detention of independent journalists Daler Imomali and Abdullo Gurbati.
The criminal cases against two journalists in Tajikistan were first reported on June 16. Independent journalist and blogger Daler Imomali is accused of “conducting illegal business” and “providing knowingly false information about a crime”. The first charge is sanctioned by up to two years of imprisonment, the second – by up to five.
Journalist Abdullo Gurbati is accused of “using violence against a representative of state power”. The applied Article of the Criminal Code provides for punishment in the form of a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. On June 18, Shohmansur District Court sentenced them both to two months of pre-trial detention. Later, the case of Daler Imomali was classified, and a new Article 307, para 3, part 2 (“Participation in the Activities of Banned Political Parties, Public and Religious Associations”) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan was added to the case. It provides for 5 to 8 years in prison. The relatives of the detained journalists told CABAR.asia they have not yet been able to meet with them.
A Chat at the District Attorney’s Office
On June 4, an independent journalist and well-known Tajik blogger Daler Imomali was “invited for a talk” to the prosecutor’s office of Dushanbe’s Shohmansur district after publishing a report on his YouTube channel about the demolition of housing in the capital’s Panjshir mahalla. He was released only after he deleted the video.
In the June 4 live stream on his YouTube, Daler Imomali said that the prosecutor hit him several times during their chat. The prosecutor’s main claim against him was that the journalist did not provide the opinion of the authorities in his report. The blogger says that he tried to talk to a representative of the prosecutor’s office but was told that they would only speak without a camera. This is already the second interrogation of Daler Imomali by law enforcement over the past three months. Earlier, he was interrogated by police officers of the Vahdat district in the suburbs of Dushanbe for several hours. On his blog, he said he felt “tired and drained” after the interrogations and that if the authorities continued like this, he would give up journalism. On June 15, along with a fellow journalist Abdullo Gurbati, who worked as a TV cameraman for Daler’s reports, he was detained by the prosecutor’s office of the Shohmansur district of Dushanbe. The international organisation Reporters Without Borders condemned the arrests of Daler Imomali and Abdullo Gurbati and called on the Tajik government to release them. In a brief June 17 Twitter statement, the organisation wrote that Daler Imomali and Abdullo Gurbati were harassed for their journalistic activities in violation of Tajikistan’s and international law.Media Refused to Cover GBAO Events
Over the past two months, there have been multiple cases of pressure on journalists in Tajikistan. The first cases were linked to events that began in mid-May in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
A popular protest started in the city of Khorog, the administrative centre of GBAO, on the evening of May 16. A day later, Asia Plus, the largest news agency, reported it refrained from covering the latest GBAO events due to pressure from the authorities.
“Earlier, Asia-Plus received an official warning from the Prosecutor General’s Office and an unofficial warning from other government agencies that our media covers events in GBAO “from only one perspective” and “destabilises the situation in the country.” Asia-Plus was ordered to “eliminate these shortcomings” or face enforced shut down,” the report says. Another media – your.tj website – announced it would not write anything about the protests and events in GBAO as well. In the Facebook post, the editorial stated it could not comment on the latest developments in Badakhshan. “First, we do not have a reporter in Badakhshan, so we cannot check all the information. Second, only official news is available now but these reports have raised many questions that have no answers,” the post said. All other Tajik media reprinted reports published on official state TV channels and websites. Several state and independent media executives confirmed that they were instructed by the authorities not to publish too much information, except for reprinting reports from state sources. As the local media refrained from covering the events in Badakhshan, social media have become the main platform for discussion and debates over the situation in the region.
The only media that provided alternative information about the May events in GBAO was the RFE/RL’s Tajik service – Radio Ozodi. However, on May 17, after speaking with Ulfatkhanum Mamadshoeva, a civil society activist accused by the authorities of organising protests in Khorog, four Ozodi and Current Time journalists were attacked in Dushanbe. The attackers took away the journalists’ phones and video cameras.
Mullorajab Yusufi, one of the injured Ozodi correspondents, said that the attackers did not say who they were or what they wanted but they knew the journalists well and their goal was to take cameras and phones.
“One of them said: “Mulloradjab, I swear to God, I will shoot you!” I got two or three punches. They took my phone and wallet. They [then] returned the money to me but took everything else with them,” Mullorajab said in a media interview.
Anushervon Orifov, a Current Time TV channel reporter, said that the same incident happened to him and his cameraman. It was at the time when they drove to Ulfathanum Mamadshoeva’s house to interview her. In total, seven phones and a video camera were taken away from them. According to Orifov, the equipment taken from the Current Time group cost more than 9 thousand dollars. Later, the authorities reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case under Article 248 (robbery) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan to investigate an assault on journalists. Mullorajab Yusufi later told the media that on the evening of May 28, an unknown man approached him on the street and said he had his phone and other equipment and he would return them if the request for a criminal investigation was withdrawn. He also threatened that if Mullorajab did not withdraw his request, the journalist should start thinking about the health and safety of his family members. At the same time, some journalists, GBAO natives, were summoned for questioning to the State Committee for National Security. On May 22, Asia-Plus journalist Ramziya Mirzobekova was summoned to a law enforcement agency and questioned about her friendship with Ulfatkhanum Mamadshoeva. Authorities confiscated her computer and phone; the equipment has not been yet returned. In an interview with CABAR.asia, Ramziya Mirzobekova said that the security services were polite to her and she felt neither pressured nor threatened. Her only concern is that after talking to them, two articles on Facebook accused her of collaborating with a Russian expert, Andrey Serenko. “I do not know who produced this article and in what institution. A fake account published it. I am in no way linked and have nothing to do with Serenko. I only once asked his opinion on the situation in Afghanistan as an expert in a chat,” she said.Media Community’s Reaction The case of Daler Imomali caused a great public response on social media and among the media community of Tajikistan. On June 6, two days after the first interrogation, a number of Tajik journalistic organisations and independent and state media published a joint statement, which called on the authorities to stop pressure on journalists, as well as to find and punish those responsible for the assault on Daler Imomali and the journalists of Radio Liberty. The statement also pointed out the restrictions on the work of the media in covering GBAO events.
The statement’s authors called for putting an end to the oppression and harassment of journalists in Tajikistan. At the same time, they called on journalists to adhere to professional and ethical standards “taking into account the interests of Tajikistan in the current situation in the region and the world”. “Government bodies, law enforcement agencies in particular, must comply with the country’s legislation in the mass media field and prevent law violations. Law enforcement agencies should thoroughly investigate cases of obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists, and the perpetrators should be held accountable in accordance with the law,” the document says.The joint statement was signed by such media organisations as the Media Council of Tajikistan, National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT), Centre for Investigative Journalism, Homa public organisation, Media Consulting public organisation, Media Alliance of Tajikistan, Asia-Plus media group, as well as by the newspapers “Sadoi Mardum” (print organ of the Parliament of Tajikistan), “Minbari Halq” (print organ of the ruling People’s Democratic Party) and the independent newspaper “USSR”.
However, on June 8, the editors-in-chief of “Sadoi Mardum”, “Minbari Halq”, and “USSR” posted a special statement on Facebook and waived the demands partially. According to the editors, their position was distorted by certain “conflict” websites for their own purposes. They claim that they condemned the arrest and interrogation of Daler Imomali but did not express their position on the issue of harassment of other journalists. “Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, the journalists in question have not contacted journalistic organisations about the rumours and scandals associated with them,” the three editors said in a statement.
In response, NANSMIT Chairman Nuriddin Karshiboev posted a screenshot of a statement on social media, in which “Sadoi Mardum” editor Bahtiyor Khamdamov and “USSR” editor Sayefi Mizrob confirmed their agreement with the content of the statement.
Nuriddin Karshiboev told CABAR.asia that the reaction of journalistic organisations became a pretext for putting even more pressure on civil society. At the same time, according to him, all [criminal] cases against journalists represent attempts to restrict the activities of journalists and the media.
“Our position is that the journalists should not be oppressed or harassed. In other words, the recent incidents involving independent media are an attempt to control the information space and put pressure on independent journalists and the media,” Karshiboev said.
Meanwhile, Khurshed Atovullo, Head of the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Tajikistan, is even more pessimistic about the future of Tajik journalism.
“The time has shown that no one needs journalistic organisations, no one listens to their words. All further steps and efforts are useless and the pressure on journalists will continue,” he said.