Another Tajik journalist has “disappeared without a trace”

Unknown individuals detained Tajik journalist Khurshed Fozilov and took him away in an unknown direction, also confiscating his computer.

Photo: Internet

On March 6 at around 15:00, two unknown individuals in civilian clothes detained Tajik journalist Khurshed Fozilov in the building of the labor, migration, and employment management of the city of Panjakent and took him away in an unknown direction.

Witnesses, employees of the management, told Asia-Plus that “two unknown individuals took Khurshed Fozilov out of the office and drove away with him.”

It is reported that Khurshed Fozilov had been working with the labor, migration, and employment management of Panjakent under a contract for a certain project until January of this year. On March 6, he came to the management to meet with his former colleagues.

Witnesses reported that on the morning of March 7, four more individuals in civilian clothes came to the management and took away the computer that Khurshed Fozilov had been working on. His colleagues asked why Khurshed was detained and where he was, but received no response.

The journalist’s relatives stated that after a whole day, they still could not find him. They contacted all law enforcement agencies in Panjakent but were unable to locate him.

“With the help of some individuals, we learned that he is in the GKNB management of the city of Panjakent. When we inquired there, they confirmed that Khurshed is in this institution and that he will be released after interrogation,” one of the journalist’s relatives told Asia-Plus.

The State Committee for National Security has not yet commented on the reason for the journalist’s detention.

Khurshed Fozilov wrote news and reports for the independent press from the Zarafshan region. Previously, he and several other journalists were accused of collaborating with the news portal Akhbor.com, which was banned in Tajikistan.

This is not the first case where Tajik law enforcement agencies detain and imprison journalists. Last year, several journalists and bloggers, including Daleri Emomali, Abdullo Gurbati, Zavkibek Saidamini, Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, Mukhammadi Sultan, Khushruz Jumayev, and Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda, were sentenced to long prison terms on fabricated charges, including providing knowingly false information and collaborating with banned organizations. The journalists themselves did not admit their guilt.

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