DUSHANBE, May 5, 2016, Asia-Plus – One more member of Tajik opposition organization Group 24 has been jailed.
A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district has sentenced Safarali Hasanov, resident of Khatlon’s Qubodiyon district, to five years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of organization of activity of an extremist group.
Safarali Hasanov is accused of membership in Group 24 and dissemination of ideas of this organization in Tajikistan.
Hasanov reportedly participated in a session of Group 24 in Russia on November 16, 2014. Participants of that meeting allegedly called on Tajik labor migrants working in Russia to come to their demonstration and demand resignation of the Tajik government.
Safarali Hasanov was reportedly detained in Tajikistan in January this year.
The founding leader of Group 24 Umarali Quvvatov once had close ties with President Emomali Rahmon’s relatives but became an opponent. He fled Tajikistan for Moscow in the summer of 2012. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to incumbent President Rahmon. He was wanted by Dushanbe on fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.
Quvvatov stayed in Russia and the United Arab Emirates before moving to Turkey. On December 19, 2014, Umarali Quvvatov was arrested in Istanbul for visa violations, but he was released on February 3, 2015. Umarali Quvvatov was shot dead by unidentified assailant in Istanbul, Turkey on March 5.
Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10, 2014.
Supreme Court judge Salomat Hakimova ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore, it is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
In March 2015, three persons were jailed in Tajikistan for alleged association with the Group, receiving sentences ranging from 16½ to 17½ years. In April 2015, another two persons were sent into prison for 3½ and 3 years for alleged organization of the Group”s activities inside Tajikistan.
Besides, Maqsoud Ibrohimov, leader of the Russian-registered organization “Youth for the Revival of Tajikistan,” was sentenced to 17 years in prison on June 24, 2015. He was member of the governing board of the opposition coalition New Tajikistan, which includes Group 24. Maqsoud Ibrohimov was accused of being member of Group 24 but he denied any association with Group 24.
