Tajikistan has jailed a veteran journalist for criticizing regional officials and another reporter faces 17 years in prison on undisclosed charges in a new clampdown on independent media in the country.
In the southern city of Kulob, Ahmad Ibrohim, a 63-year-old editor-in-chief of a local newspaper Payk, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on January 10 on bribery, extortion, and extremism charges, all of which he denies.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service says Payk, the only independent media outlet in Khatlon province, had been seen as loyal to the government, even though it did not shy away from criticizing local officials for exploiting their positions.
“Ibrohim once reported that the Kulob city governor used state money to build a road to his mother's grave,” a source close to Ibrohim told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service. “Obviously, such reports did not sit well with officials.”
In Dushanbe, Ms. Rukhshona Hakimova, a 31-year-old independent journalist who has worked for a variety of media outlets, is awaiting a verdict in a closed-door trial on undisclosed charges, RFE/RL says, noting that the government has classified Hakimova's case as “secret.”
Sources close to the court said that Hakimova has been charged with treason, with prosecutors asking for 17 years' imprisonment.
In Dushanbe, Hakimova, her lawyer, and her relatives refuse to speak to the media. Sources with knowledge of the journalist's case say they cannot speak because they have been given a gagging order. Ms. Hakimova is currently under house arrest.
The sources said the charge of treason against Hakimova stems from a public survey she conducted on China's influence on Tajikistan as part of her work as a reporter last year. For Tajikistan, China is a crucial economic partner.
Several Tajik journalists in Dushanbe told RFE/RL that the cases against Ibrohim and Hakimova have further deepened the climate of fear and self-censorship in Tajikistan.
One of them told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that media outlets “are now too afraid to even report about local issues such as a shortage of electricity.”
The cases come with at least eight other journalists and bloggers already serving lengthy prison terms in Tajikistan after being convicted on bogus charges in 2022 and 2023, according to RFE/RL.
In its 2024 annual report, the New York-based Committee To Protect Journalists said the media landscape in Tajikistan is in its "worst state" in three decades.
