Freedom Now calls on Tajikistan to release political prisoners

On October 7, a preliminary meeting of the 39th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) took place in Geneva with the participation of representatives from national human rights institutions and civil society organizations.

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The United Nations (UN) called on national human rights institutions and civil society organizations to participate in the preliminary meeting of the 39th Universal Periodic Review and to submit their alternative reports on the human rights situation in Tajikistan.

The Universal Periodic Review will examine the human rights situation in Tajikistan in January 2022 in Geneva.

Organizations such as Freedom Now, IPHR, Lawyers for Lawyers, and IBAHRI participated in the preliminary meeting of the 39th Universal Periodic Review and presented reports; however, no representatives from civil society or human rights organizations from Tajikistan were present. Additionally, representatives of the opposition in exile, including the PIVT, Group 24, the National Alliance of Tajikistan, and the Civil Committee for the Protection of Political Prisoners, did not participate.

The human rights organization Freedom Now expressed concern over the arbitrary arrests of opposition leaders and described the arrests and detention of PIVT leaders, the leader of the New Tajikistan party Zayd Saidov, human rights defender Buzurgmehr Yorov, and 80-year-old Doniyor Nabiyev as politically motivated. The organization also urged the Tajik government to comply with the UN decision for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners.

A representative of Freedom Now reported that two riots occurred in Tajikistan’s prisons in November 2018 and May 2019, resulting in the deaths of about 80 inmates, including several members of the PIVT.

The international human rights organization Freedom Now called on Tajikistan to allow for an independent and transparent investigation into the prison riots and to publish the results of the investigation.