Abdukakhor Davlat is being tortured in Vahdat prison

Journalist and member of the Supreme Presidium of the Party of Islamic Revival of Tajikistan (PIRT) Abdukakhhor Davlat was tortured in the new prison of Vakhdat and was subsequently transferred to a punishment cell.

Photo: Internet

According to a source from AZDA TV, in early October of this year, after Abdukakhhor Davlat was transferred to the new prison in Vakhdat, he was subjected to torture and then moved to a punishment cell. Our interlocutor did not explain the reason for placing this political prisoner in the punishment cell.

Well-known Tajik human rights defender Jamshid Yorov stated: “Placing prisoners in punishment cells or solitary confinement is usually used as one of the forms of punitive measures against them. The reasons for punitive measures can vary – disobedience to the orders of prison guards, petty hooliganism, use of narcotic substances and alcoholic beverages, threats or insults directed at representatives of the authorities while performing their official duties; organizing strikes, etc.”.

Photo: Internet

“In Tajikistan, political prisoners who defend their rights and freedoms in prisons, express dissatisfaction, and protest against illegal restrictions imposed by prison staff are usually placed in punishment cells,” added Jamshid Yorov.

Yorov also emphasized: “Political prisoners pose a threat to the current regime, even when they are in prison, and their confinement in punishment cells for various periods of time is one way to break their spirit of struggle for freedom. Although the law regulates the placement of a person in a punishment cell, and this requires a decision from the head of the colony and the conclusion of a special commission, I do not believe that this legal requirement is fulfilled in relation to political prisoners in Tajikistan.”

Previously, prison guards repeatedly placed Tajik political prisoner Abdukakhhor Davlat in a punishment isolation cell or punishment cell for unknown reasons and subjected him to torture.

It is reported that in May 2019, as a result of a bloody incident in which 29 prisoners and three prison guards in Vakhdat, known as the “Brick Factory,” were killed, Abdukakhhor Davlat also sustained a wrist injury and had several fingers broken.

Several days ago, the website “

Deputy Chairman of PIRT Shokhnaim Karim informed the media that the transfer of Abdukakhhor Davlat and three other prisoners to the new prison could have been planned, similar to the liquidation of Makhsum Abdusatov, Eshoni Kiyomidin, and Shaykh Temur.

It was previously reported that Hikmatullo Saifullozoda and Rahmatullo Rajab were tortured and attacked in prison a few days earlier. Later, the Ministry of Justice published a statement and confirmed the incident of the attack on Hikmatullo Saifullozoda, but denied the attack on Rahmatullo Rajab. However, relatives of Rahmatullo Rajab reported that during a phone conversation he spoke anxiously.

Relatives of the leaders also appealed to representatives of influential international and regional organizations in Dushanbe, expressing deep concern that the lives of their imprisoned relatives are in danger and called for a review of their cases in the presence of journalists, experts, and international observers.

In a conversation with AZDA TV, the Main Department for the Execution of Sentences of the Ministry of Justice did not deny the fact of the torture of journalist Abdukakhhor Davlat in the new prison in Vakhdat (3/2), but said: “Send us your request in writing, and we will also provide you with details of this case in writing.”

Journalist and member of the Supreme Presidium of PIRT Abdukakhhor Davlat was arrested by Tajik law enforcement agencies on September 16, 2015, and in May 2016 was sentenced by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan to 28 years in prison on fabricated charges.