An Article “Can Social Media Help Deliver Justice in Tajikistan?” by Bruce Pannier posted on Radio Liberty’s website on August 21, in particular notes that among the many ominous human rights developments this summer in Tajikistan, two forms of repression took center stage and led to an unusually robust international outcry: abuses against children and attempts to silence free speech.
Today, the Sughd regional court is considering Khayrullo Mirsaidov's appeal of his sentence on what Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other rights groups have called “bogus charges” of embezzlement, misuse of state funds, and false accusations against a local official for corruption.
Besides his long record as a journalist who worked for outlets including Asia-Plus, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Al-Jazeera, and Deutsche Welle, Mirsaidov reportedly more recently made his mark managing Tajikistan's national KVN comedy troupe, which enjoyed several winning streaks performing in international competitions.
In November 2017, Mirsaidov authored an open letter to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, appealing to him to investigate the head of the Sughd Department of Youth Sport. Mirsaidov said the official had sought a $1,000 bribe from the funds allocated for the KVN team. Reportedly, there was no investigation of the bribe attempt, but charges were filed against Mirsaidov and he was arrested on December 5.
Almost as soon as Mirsaidov was arrested, his friend, journalist and filmmaker Michael Andersen, jumped into action, initiating the #FreeKhayrullo campaign on Twitter. The campaign reportedly took some time to gain steam. But by July, when Mirsaidov was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the reaction by key diplomatic missions in Tajikistan was surprisingly swift and stern, according to the article.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) media-freedom representative Harlem Desir said he was "alarmed by the stringent and disproportionate sentence handed down to the journalist." The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Mirsaidov's conviction "signals that the authorities are cracking down on reporting of corruption, rather than on corruption itself."
The article says following Mirsaidov's conviction, the #FreeKhayrullo campaign really took off, with people around the world (Los Angeles, Mexico City, Copenhagen, London, Kyiv, and Jakarta, to name a few cities) posting selfies with signs that read #FreeKhayrullo. Probably the most notable success is that even the U.K.'s own ambassador to Tajikistan, Hugh Philpott, adopted the campaign's hashtag calling on Tajik authorities to release the journalist and stepping outside the usual strictures of diplomatic parlance.
Mr. Bruce Pannier notes that this intense outside pressure might be the reason why on August 15, when the Sughd regional court met to hear Mirsaidov's appeal, it quickly rescheduled the hearing for August 22.
