Why a Tajik journalist was not allowed into Uzbekistan

The authorities of Uzbekistan have banned Tajik journalist Shervoni Umriddin from entering the country for a period of 5 years.

Tajik journalist Shervoni Umriddin stated that on September 7, he intended to travel to Samarkand for his daughter’s treatment through the “Sarazm” checkpoint.

On September 18, journalist Shervoni Umriddin told Radio Ozodi that during his border crossing on September 7, Uzbek border guards detained him for three hours.

Later, he was informed that a decision had been made in Tashkent to ban his entry into Uzbekistan. He believes that this decision was made due to the release of three videos about activists and the situation with the Tajik language in Samarkand and Bukhara.

According to him, he tried to explain that he was not the author of these films, but the Uzbek border guards ignored his words.

The Tajik journalist says that since September 7, he has been trying to obtain an official written explanation regarding the reasons for the ban on his entry into Uzbekistan, but all his attempts have been in vain. At the Uzbek embassy in Dushanbe, he was told to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

Shervoni Umriddin claims that over the past few years, he has only visited Samarkand, Bukhara, and other regions of Uzbekistan five times and has not violated any laws.

This is the first case in recent years where a citizen of Tajikistan has been banned from entering Uzbekistan due to a report on the status of the Tajik language in Samarkand and Bukhara.

Previously, during the rule of Islam Karimov, it was difficult, and sometimes impossible, for citizens of Tajikistan to travel to Uzbekistan. Relations between these two neighboring countries have improved since the rise to power of Shavkat Mirziyoyev.