August 1 – The holy Islamic month of Ramadan started in Tajikistan;
– The European Commission allocated 175,000 somoni (€ 25,000) to bring relief to over 200 affected families, the victims of summer floods in the northern Sughd province;
– Officers from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) seized some 20 kilograms of hashish in Vahdat district.
August 2 – President Emomali Rahmon signed a law that bans most children under the age of 18 from attending regular Friday Prayers in mosques. The controversial law holds the parents of underage children attending Friday Prayers legally responsible for allowing them to do so. The law does allow children and teenagers who study at state-run religious schools to attend mosques and join religious associations. But other teenagers may pray at mosques only on religious festivals and at funerals. Officials say the law aims to prevent children from falling prey to Islamic radicalization;
– A special commission, led by Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, visited Ayni district to get acquainted with the process of recovery work on the road connecting Ayni and Kuhistoni Mastchoh district that was seriously affected by a landslide that occurred in the area on July 31.
August2-3 – By president’s order Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi paid a two-day working visit to Turkmenistan. During his stay in Ashgabat, Zarifi held talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov and some other high-ranking Turkmen state officials to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
August 3 – Tajikistan”s First Deputy Prime Minister, Asadullo Ghulomov, died suddenly at the age of 57. He died of a stroke.
August 3-5 – President Emomali Rahmon paid a working visit to the northern Sughd province.
August 6 – Three suspects, a Kyrgyz, a Russian, and a Tajik, were detained in the northern Sughd province in possession of was more than 31 kilograms of heroin. The Drug Control Agency (DCA) said the men planned to smuggle the heroin into Russia.
August 7-9 – Pakistani Minister for Communications, Dr. Arbab Alamgir Khan, arrived in Dushanbe for a working visit. He was accompanied by Mr. Sabir Hassan, Member (Planning), National Highway Authority. Pakistani minister held talks with a number of high-ranking Tajik state officials to discuss cooperation issues. He, in particular, had in-depth discussions with Tajik Minister of Transport, Nizom Hakimov regarding air and surface connectivity between Pakistan and Tajikistan and regional road and rail corridors.
August 8 – Tajik authorities reportedly suspended teaching at four higher education Islamic schools in Sughd province. According to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, an official from the Sughd department on religious affairs says the management at the madrasahs failed to reregister their schools as required by a new law on religion. He added that the teachers at the madrasahs in the Asht, Jabborrasoulov, Mastchoh, and Kuhistoni Mastchoh districts do not provide the requisite religious education and the madrasah buildings also do not conform to state standards.
August 9 – Afghan drug smugglers abducted resident of the Shouroobod village of Qavoq, called Amirkhon after he informed Tajik border guards where they had hidden a cache of drugs. Tajik border guards reportedly seized a huge amount of drugs in early August in Shouroobod district of the southern Khatlon province.
August 11 – A military court in Uzbekistan sentenced Tajik national Saidqul Ashourov to 12 years in prison on espionage charges. Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports Ashourov was detained in March and accused of violating Uzbek laws relating to state secrets. Until his arrest, Ashourov was employed as Amantaytau Goldfields” chief metallurgist at its mining operations in Zarafshan, Uzbekistan. According to RFE/RL, Oxus Gold”s lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the conviction of Ashourov is a clear violation of human rights by the Uzbek authorities, and there is no legal basis for his arrest.
August 11-12 – An Indian delegation, led by Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCA) Kishan Kumar Nohwar, visited Dushanbe. The Indian delegation reportedly discussed with Tajik officials issues related to military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries as well as training of personnel for Tajik national army in India.
August 16 – The trial of the BBC reporter Urunboy Usmonov, accused of associating with banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, began in Khujand. Urunboy Usmonov, 59, denies the charges, saying any meetings he had with Hizb ut-Tahrir members were for purely journalistic purposes.
August 19 – The Majlisi Namoyandagon, the lower house of parliament, approved an amnesty for some 4,000 prisoners. The amnesty mainly benefits men over 55, those prisoners suffering from cancer or tuberculosis, and women. People convicted for attempting to overthrow the government, engaging in terrorism, spying, murder, or other serious crimes are not eligible for the early release;
– Police in Khatlon province instituted criminal cases against 22 former students at Islamic universities and religious schools abroad who returned to Tajikistan in the past year;
– The emergency ministers of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signed the agreement on the establishment of a Central Asian Center for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction;
– The Supreme Court sentenced Fayzullo Bobokhonov, the son of Tajikistan’s former prosecutor-general, to seven years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of extortion, misuse of power, fraud and criminal attempt.
August 21-23 – A delegation of the Communist Party of China, led by Zhou Yongkang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, visited Tajikistan. The delegation arrived in Tajikistan on invitation of Tajikistan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Zhou Yongkang met with President Emomali Rahmon on August 22 and their talks reportedly resulted in signing of three cooperation documents: an agreement on cooperation between the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan and the Communist Party of China; an agreement on technical and economic cooperation; and a memorandum on agricultural cooperation. Under the government-to-government agreement on technical and economic cooperation, China will award a 120 million Yuan grant to Tajikistan.
August 23 – 112 inmates were released from a women”s prison in Norak in southern Khatlon Province, in line with an amnesty passed by the lower house of parliament. Twelve of the women freed are citizens of Uzbekistan, Russia, Latvia, or Lithuania;
– President Emomali Rahmon received Zhang Chunxian, Secretary of Xinjiang Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The two reportedly considered a number of issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China;
– Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov visited the site for construction of the Sangtuda-2 hydroelectric power plant (HPP). The main purpose of the visit was fro the prime minister to inspect the construction work;
– British Ambassador to Tajikistan, Trevor Moore and a Delegation of the UK Global Threat Reduction Program visited Fayzobod for a ceremony to open an upgraded new facility to protect radioactive material, marking the completion of a joint Tajik-British project.
August 23-24 – An UK delegation, led by Assistant Chief of the UK Defence Staff (Logistics Operations), Air Vice-Marshal Graham Howard, visited Tajikistan. The delegation, accompanied by the British Ambassador to Tajikistan, Trevor Moore, met among others, Chief of the Tajik Defence Staff, General Ravil Nadyrov, and Deputy Foreign Minister Nizomiddin Zohidov, the British Embassy in Dushanbe reports. The visit took place with the objective of further developing the bilateral relationship between the Governments of the United Kingdom and of Tajikistan on both the military and political fronts.
August 25 – According to the penitentiary system of the Ministry of Justice of Tajikistan, Yoqub Salimov, who was once Tajikistan’s interior minister, ambassador to Turkey, and chairman of the state customs committee, and Mahmadruzi Iskandarov, ex-leader of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, have their prison terms cut by two years under a prisoner amnesty. Salimov was found guilty of treason, banditry, and abuse of office and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on April 25, 2005. The Supreme Court sentenced Mahmadruzi Iskandarov to 23 years in prison on 5 October, 2005. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of terrorism, the embezzlement of state funds, and the illegal storage of weapons.
August 26 – President Emomali Rahmon visited Rasht and Jirgatol districts in eastern Tajikistan.
August 27-29 – Prince Amyn Aga Khan, younger brother of His Highness the Aga Khan, visited in Tajikistan. During his stay in Dushanbe, His Highness reviewed some programs of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Tajikistan.
August 28 – 700 prisoners, or some 70 percent of prison inmates serving their terms in penal colonies in Sughd province, were released.
August 30 – Tajikistan’s three-color flag, measuring 60 meters by 30 meters, was officially raised up the newly erected 165-meter flagpole
August 31 – Tajikistan marked Idi Ramazon or Eid ul-Fitr. Eid ul-Fitr is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
