Tajik prominent poet Bozor Sobir died in Seattle, the United States today morning at 5:00 am Dushanbe time, aged 79 after a long illness. President Emomali Rahmon has ordered to transport his body to Tajikistan, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
Emomali Rahmon reportedly ordered the Tajik Embassy in Washington and Tajikistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations to provide transportation of poet’s body to Dushanbe.
Recall, Tajik known poet Bozor Sobir got to the hospital in Seattle last month. He reportedly left for the United States recently to visit his children.
Born in the village of Sufiyon in Fayzobod district on November 20, 1938, Bozor Sobir received his early education in the Fayzobod district before graduating from the Faculty of Tajik Philology at Tajik National University in 1962.
He had worked for the magazines Maorif va Madaniyat (Education and Culture) and Sadoyi Sharq (Voice of the East).
During the Soviet period his verse was widely translated into Western languages and even published in Iran.
With the advent of glasnost he became actively involved in the political and cultural movements for an independent national identity. Four major collections of his verse were published in the 2000s.
Bozor Sobir was also a prominent member of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan until his resignation from the party in November 1992, reportedly because of disagreement with the party leadership.
On March 26, 1993, Bozor Sobir was arrested at the Dushanbe airport, where he had gone reportedly to send a parcel to his son who was living that time in Moscow.
On April 5, 1993, Bozor Sobir was charged with "incitement to illegal deprivation of freedom" and "attempting to inflame interethnic discord." He was released from jail in later 1993 due to support of international human rights organizations. After release from jail, Bozor Sobir in December 1994 left Tajikistan for the United States, where he resided for 19 years before he returned to Tajikistan in May 2013.
