The interior minister says that to summon relatives of members of banned organizations for questioning is not persecution.
If relatives or friends of members of organizations that are banned in the country are summoned for questioning, it does not mean that they are persecuted, the Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda state at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 21.
“If they are summoned as witnesses or for receiving information, it does not mean that they are persecuted. But if their honor and dignity were humiliated that is another matter. But we have not received such applications from relatives and friends of members of the banned organizations,” the minister noted.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) say Tajik authorities have detained, interrogated, and threatened relatives of 10 peaceful opposition activists who attended a July 9 conference in Germany.
The conference in Dortmund was held to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of peace accords that formally ended Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war.
In a joint statement released on July 19, the two human rights watchdogs said Tajik authorities publicly shamed the activists’ relatives, banned from leaving the country, and threatened to confiscate their property.
The statement, in particular, says that in one case, officials threatened to rape the daughter of an activist. “Activists provided details about 10 incidents in cities around the country that have been sanctioned by the Tajik government at the highest level. Tajik security services officers and local officials publicly shamed, banned from leaving the country, and threatened to confiscate the property of the activists’ relatives, and in one case threatened to rape an activist’s daughter,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) activists provided detailed accounts to HRW and NHC about violations against their families committed by authorities between July 7 and July 10 in the capital, Dushanbe, and seven other villages and cities across the country. “In each case, security services officers explicitly linked their visits and abusive actions to the participation of the people’s relatives in a peaceful political conference in Dortmund, Germany,” the statement said.
HRW and NHC called on the United States, the European Union, and other international partners to urgently address “the growing pattern of retaliatory attacks in Tajikistan.”
