Human rights groups have called on the Tajik government to lift a “politically motivated travel ban” on an independent activist's family, and put an end to its “vicious campaign of intimidation” against dissidents' relatives.
In a joint statement released on August 7, seven human rights groups, including Amnesty International, the Association of Central Asian Migrants, Freedom Now, Global Advocates Foundation, Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Vision Foundation, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, say that security services on August 4 forced Shabnam Khudoidodova's 10-year-old daughter, elderly mother, and brother off an airplane at the Dushanbe airport.
They were reportedly on their way to Europe to reunite with Shabnam Khudoidodova, former member of Group 24. .
“The cruelty Tajik authorities have shown against this 10-year-old girl and her relatives simply for her mother’s peaceful criticism of the government is shocking,” Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW said in a statement. “They should be allowed to leave Tajikistan immediately without any fear of retribution.”
The three were interrogated for hours and forced to sign documents acknowledging that all of them, including the girl, were on a “wanted list,” according to the statement.
The move is the latest in a series of actions against Khudoidodova’s family that included violent attacks against her daughter and other relatives, the groups said.
The travel ban is the latest in a long series of retaliatory actions against Khudoidodova’s family members, including violent attacks, the statement noted.
“Targeting dissidents’ families is a new low set by the government, and an especially despicable tactic,” said Maran Turner, executive director at Freedom Now. “Tajikistan’s international partners, including Brussels and Washington, must make a clear call for an end to this abuse.”
Shabnam Khudoidodova was detained in Belarus for more than eight months in 2015 and 2016 under a Tajik extradition request and Interpol warrant.
After that, she stopped her political opposition work and took up human rights activism in Poland on behalf of Tajik asylum seekers there, according to the statement.
Group 24 was officially banned in Tajikistan in October 2014 after authorities labeled it as an extremist organization.
