Sharofiddin Gadoev responded to the seizure of his mother’s passport

Sharofiddin Gadoev, one of the leaders of the National Alliance of Tajikistan, claims that law enforcement agencies have intensified pressure on his 72-year-old mother.

On February 14, Sharofiddin Gadoev, one of the leaders of the National Alliance of Tajikistan, told Azda TV that his 72-year-old mother is ill and needs treatment. She needs to be taken abroad for medical care, but the authorities are obstructing her ability to receive medical assistance outside the country.

According to the opposition member, his mother is elderly and sick, but it should not be forgotten that currently, dozens of relatives of opposition activists living in Tajikistan, solely because they are related to opposition members, are not only unable to leave the country but are also deprived of basic civil rights.

“I call on all human rights organizations operating in Tajikistan or outside its borders, monitoring the human rights situation in Tajikistan, to intervene in such cases in a timely manner and to prevent the relatives of opposition members from facing pressure and repression from the authorities,” Gadoev stated.

A representative of the National Alliance of Tajikistan added that in January of this year, when signs of illness were detected in his elderly mother, her relatives took her to the Passport Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Farhor district for the processing of her international passport, following doctors’ advice. They received the passport, but three days later, the Passport Department staff confiscated it under the pretext of having “one mistake,” and it was not returned.

Gadoev’s mother, Oiyshamo Abdulloeva, confirmed in an interview with Radio Ozodi that her passport was taken away.

“I was told that the passport would be ready in two days. I came back after 17 days, and I was told that they had been instructed not to issue my passport,” she reported.

This is not the first case where law enforcement agencies apply pressure on the relatives of opposition activists in Tajikistan under various pretexts and prohibit them from traveling abroad for treatment or visiting relatives. For over 10 years, these methods have been used as leverage against opposition members.