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Tajikistan Accused of Intimidating Activists Abroad by Targeting Relatives
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Asim Kashgarian

   Sharofiddin Gadoev, 35, a Tajik political activist from the
   Netherlands, was arrested in February 2019 during a visit to Moscow and
   forcibly deported to his native Tajikistan. About two weeks later, the
   Tajik government, under pressure from human rights organizations and
   European countries, released him from prison in the capital, Dushanbe,
   and allowed him to return to Europe.

   But his ordeal is not over. Although he is now free in his adopted
   Netherlands, he said his relatives in Tajikistan had been subjected to
   beatings by Tajik authorities, had been threatened and had their
   movements restricted.

   "My father was severely beaten by law enforcement agents [in] 2014.
   After that, he could not walk anymore without support. As a result of
   that beating, his health considerably deteriorated and, in 2016, he
   died," Godoev told VOA, adding that his aging mother and elder sister,
   who still live in Tajikistan, were now being constantly pressured by
   government.

   His situation is not unusual. Last Friday, [1]Human Rights Watch
   (HRW)accused the Tajik government of a "campaign against all dissent,"
   saying the authorities targeted critics abroad with "kidnapping,
   extradition, forced disappearance, and harassment and persecution of
   family members of exiled critics."

   From businessman to activist

   Gadoev, who now leads the political movement "Reforms and Development
   in Tajikistan" from abroad, used to be a businessman who owned a
   transportation company in Dushanbe. He said he had to flee the country
   in 2012 after authorities started targeting him for openly criticizing
   the government.

References

   1. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/04/tajikistan-dissidents-family-interrogated-threatened

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