Committee to Protect Journalists Calls for Release of All Imprisoned Journalists

The Committee To Protect Journalists in its statement on August 15, 2023, called on Tajik authorities to immediately release Tajik journalist Khurshed Fazilov and other convicted journalists.

The committee’s statement was published in response to the decision of the Sughd Regional Court to uphold the sentence of Khurshed Fazilov, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

“The rejection of journalist Khurshed Fazilov’s appeal by Tajik authorities demonstrates how the courts have contributed to the criminalization of the press in the country,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, the program director of the Committee To Protect Journalists, in New York.

“The authorities must immediately release Fazilov and all other imprisoned press workers and thoroughly investigate allegations of mistreatment he faced in custody to achieve accountability,” he noted.

The Committee To Protect Journalists has already documented 7 cases of journalists being sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7 to 20 years in Tajikistan since October 2022.

On March 6, employees of the State National Security Committee detained Tajik journalist Khurshed Fazilov in the building of the Department of Labor, Migration, and Employment of the Population in the city of Panjakent.

The authorities accused him of collaborating with banned organizations (Article 307, Supplement 3, Part 2) of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. However, Fazilov denied all charges and stated that he acted only within the law.

The journalist informed his lawyer that the State National Security Committee forced him to confess to a crime he did not commit.

Khurshed Fazilov complained to the Sughd Regional Prosecutor’s Office about arbitrary arrest, violation of personal integrity, and coercion to testify against himself. However, the court dismissed the journalist’s complaint.

Later, the court in Penjikent sentenced journalist Khurshed Fazilov to 7 years in prison on charges of collaborating with organizations banned in the country.

On July 12 of this year, the Sughd Regional Court reviewed the cassation appeal and decided to uphold the first-instance court’s verdict.

Khurshed Fazilov is 37 years old and has three children. He reported news and stories for independent media from the Zarafshan region. Previously, he and several other journalists were accused of collaborating with the news portal Akhbor.com, which is banned in Tajikistan.

Last year, the authorities imprisoned several well-known journalists and bloggers on false charges. Human rights defenders regularly demand their release from Tajikistan. The authorities, as always, ignore the recommendations and demands of organizations.

Repression in the country has led to Tajikistan’s ranking in the Press Freedom Index being lower than that of Afghanistan, where the Taliban are in power.