Man who filmed widely discussed video detained in Vahdat

Shahboz Sharifbek, who filmed a video appeal by his stepmother and grandmother, has been detained by law enforcement authorities.

According to media reports, police in the city of Vahdat detained Shahboz Sharifbek for 10 days on October 18.

Shahboz Sharifbek, a resident of the Simiganj rural jamoat in Vahdat, posted a video on social media on October 14, 2023, alleging that government officials had unlawfully detained his brother Sodiqjon Sharifbek without an official summons or warrant and forcibly taken him to the military enlistment office.

Those behind the video alleged that a local police officer, the rural jamoat chairman, and the neighborhood chairman broke into their home at night and detained Sodiqjon Sharifbek. When the young man’s stepmother, Shodigul Ghafurova, and his grandmother, 82-year-old Safargul Ghafurova, objected and protested, they were beaten and insulted.

In the video, Shodigul Ghafurova and her mother, Safargul Ghafurova, say government officials had no right to force young men into Tajikistan’s armed forces. However, the local police officer and the rural jamoat chairman threatened that if the women complained to anyone, “they would come back and kill them.”

The video attracted widespread attention and sparked a wave of public reactions. The internal affairs authorities responded to the outcry by detaining Shahboz Sharifbek, who made the video. Meanwhile, the authorities have not commented on the allegations by Shodigul Ghafurova and 82-year-old Safargul Ghafurova that government officials beat them.

Since her husband’s death, Shodigul Ghafurova has lived for several years in the home of her mother, Safargul Ghafurova. Together they raised the young men, who, having reached adulthood, were now the household’s only breadwinners.