Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that according to the National Alliance of Tajikistan (PMT), which unites several opposition groups in exile, a son of Tajik opposition politician Shamsiddin Saidov may be extradited to Tajikistan from Germany, where he will face arbitrary arrest and torture.
Shamsiddin Saidov, a member of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was sentenced in absentia in Tajikistan to 15 years in prison on extremism charges and is currently residing in the European Union.
He told RFER/RL in a brief interview on December 13 that his 32-year-old son, Abdullo Shamsiddin, may be extradited to Tajikistan due to his failure to re-register with Germany’s migration authorities on time.
"Other than that, he did not do anything wrong. We hired a lawyer to prevent his extradition," Saidov said.
German authorities have not spoken publicly on the possible extradition of Shamsiddin.
In 2017, based on a change to the Criminal Procedure Code, Tajik courts gained the right to convict accused people in absentia.
The IRPT was labeled a terrorist group and banned in 2015.
In 2014, another opposition movement, Group 24, was labeled as terrorist and extremist and banned.
