Sources close to Uzbek law enforcement told Radio Liberty that noted ethnic Tajik journalist, Salim Inomzoda, was arrested on July 13 over a song he placed on social media.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on July 15 that Inomzoda was charged with the distribution of "materials threatening public safety." Investigators say the song performed by Tajik singer Afzalshoh Shodiyev about Uzbekistan's ancient cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, which have a significant Tajik diaspora, is of "a religious character, and contains elements of separatism."
Inomzoda is currently being held at the pretrial detention facility of Tashkent’s Mirzo Ulughbek district.
Based on a document from Mirzo Ulughbek police department, criminal proceeding have bene instituted against Salim Inomzoda under the provisions of Article 244 (1) of Uzbekistan’s Penal Code — production and dissemination of materials containing threat to public security and public order.
If convicted, Inomzoda, 58, faces up to eight years in prison.
RFE/RL reports that Civil rights activists in Uzbekistan said administrators of Inomzoda's Tajiks of Uzbekistan Facebook account were summoned for questioning.
