Ombudsman representatives met with imprisoned journalists

According to the representative of the ombudsman, journalists did not complain about the conditions of their detention in prison.

Photo: Internet

On February 17, Zilola Ikromova, an employee of the office of the human rights ombudsman, reported that representatives of the human rights ombudsman of Tajikistan met with convicted Tajik journalists – Abdullo Gurbati, Daler Emomali, and Zavkibek Saidamini in correctional colony No. 3/4, better known as “the colony on 1st Soviet,” and familiarized themselves with the conditions of their detention.

Zilola Ikromova told Asia-Plus that the journalists are in good health, but “during the conversation, it became clear that they sometimes cough due to seasonal flu or cold.”

The human rights ombudsman’s office denies that Daler Emomali is suffering from tuberculosis.

According to her, the journalists have no complaints about the conditions of their detention, and they have access to meetings with family and relatives.

At the same time, the ombudsman representative did not provide any information about the health status of Zavkibek Saidamini. Earlier, on December 17, 2022, Zavkibek Saidamini’s brother reported on his Facebook page that “his health condition is not good.”

Zilola Ikromova stated that she met with the journalists in the prison assembly hall during a rehearsal for an upcoming festive event. According to her, Abdullo Gurbati was preparing as a host, while Daler Emomali was reciting poetry.

Zilola Ikromova reported that the journalists did not complain about torture in the colony. According to her, it is not within the authority of the ombudsman’s office representatives to review the criminal case, “since we conducted an inspection of the compliance with the rights of prisoners in the correctional colony.”

However, it was previously reported that journalists are subjected to torture in places of detention. In particular, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzo, while in pre-trial detention, wrote a letter stating that he had been subjected to psychological pressure and torture since the first day of his detention.

The representative of the human rights ombudsman in Tajikistan then reported that they learned about the torture of journalist Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzo from the media, and no relatives of the journalist had contacted them.

Zilola Ikromova stated that she had not met with Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzo, but possibly other representatives of the human rights ombudsman had met with him.

The human rights ombudsman in Tajikistan has little authority in the country and, in most cases, defends the interests of the authorities. His meeting with the imprisoned journalists will not improve their situation. Earlier, despite receiving reports of torture and poor conditions for political prisoners in prison, after meeting with some prisoners, the ombudsman reported that political prisoners denied torture and mistreatment by the prison administration.

Last year, several journalists and bloggers, including Daler Emomali, Abdullo Gurbati, Zavkibek Saidamini, Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, Mukhamadi Sultan, Khushruz Jumayev, and Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzo, were sentenced to long prison terms on false charges, including providing knowingly false information and cooperating with banned organizations.

International and local human rights organizations have repeatedly called on the Tajik authorities to release the detained journalists, but the authorities of the country always ignore these calls from human rights organizations.