Relatives of a journalist detained in Tajikistan

The law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan have detained the close relatives of journalist Anora Sarkorova and taken them to an unknown location.

Photo: Internet

On the morning of June 27, renowned journalist Anora Sarkorova reported on her Facebook page that Tajik law enforcement agencies had detained her mother and brother and taken them away, and their whereabouts are currently unknown.

According to her, earlier the State National Security Committee (GKNB) had interrogated her relatives in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.

Sarkorova’s husband, journalist Rustam Joni, reacted to this news. “This government has neither conscience nor faith. These followers of Zahhak want to subdue awakened minds by force and threats. Their path is so full of immorality and depravity that to see all this and remain silent means to lose faith,” he writes.

Sarkorova criticized the attitude of Tajik law enforcement agencies.

“This is justice Tajik-style. The use of the most effective method – torture and blackmail with the lives of relatives. This is how confessions are obtained. In Tajikistan, a father is responsible for his son, a mother for her daughter, a brother for his sister,” writes Sarkorova.

The journalist emphasized that the Tajik authorities want everyone to remain silent and stop talking about the widespread human rights violations occurring in the country.

The detention of Anora Sarkorova’s mother and brother has provoked a sharp reaction from both government supporters and opponents. Pro-government users accused her of sacrificing her own mother for her “advertising,” while opponents of the authorities’ policies accused the government of violating the law and national and universal values. “Rahmon and Yatimov water their tree of power with the tears of mothers and the blood of their sons. In a word, Rahmon is Zahhak in our days,” writes an opposition-minded user.

Renowned journalist Anora Sarkorova and her husband Rustam Joni are natives of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. Over the past eight months, as the human rights situation in the region has been critical, they have actively campaigned on social media, expressing support for local residents and criticizing the actions of the authorities while being outside the country. Because of this, the authorities began to exert pressure, interrogate, and detain their relatives in Tajikistan.