A group of opponents of the Tajik government in Europe said that the authorities have increased pressure on their relatives inside the country for three days.

The reason, according to them, was that “the president of the Republic of Tajikistan is likely to visit one of the European countries, and the representatives of the opposition should not hold demonstrations, raise slogans, and throw eggs against him.”

Tajik authorities have not yet announced the president’s visit abroad. Our efforts to get an official comment have so far been unsuccessful. The travel time is also not exact.

“The authorities demand the parents and other relatives of the Tajik opposition to force their children not to participate in any demonstrations or gatherings during Emomali Rahmon’s visit,” the statement of Paimon Milli, a coalition of four opposition organizations, said.

No official comment is available.

Officials of the National Alliance said on March 19 that such a threat has so far reached the relatives of Sharofiddin Gadoev, Salim Sultanzoda, Shohrajab Shohimi, Abdushukur Mannonov and other activists.

Sharofiddin Gadoev said that, in fact, his mother was called to the Department of Internal Affairs of Farkhor district two days ago. “They said there, tell your son not to protest against the president in Europe,” he said.

A similar situation happened on March 18 to the relatives of Shohrajab Shohimi, one of the representatives of the opposition, in the city of Panjakent. Shahimi says, “they even sent me a recording of my mother’s voice. In it, my mother scolded me and begged me not to join any group, not to protest.”

We also spoke with relatives of some of the opposition inside Tajikistan. They confirmed such conversations, but asked us not to publish their names and words in order not to cause difficulties in their work and life.

Meanwhile, representatives of the opposition in Europe claim that the authorities registered the house, car, land and other assets of their parents and “received a letter that if their children take part in demonstrations against Emomali Rahmon, they will confiscate everything.”

Mahmadzarif Saidov, a member of the Islamic Renaissance Banned Party in Tajikistan, says that on March 19, the authorities told his son to take the documents of the house to the security office of Dushanbe.

“Before that, the authorities took my parents, brother and eighteen-year-old son to the security office of Rudaki district and took a promise and a letter. My son asked me to promise in a video that I will not participate in the protests during the president’s visit. I did this in order not to put pressure on my parents. Saidov added.

In a statement on March 19, the National Alliance called the behavior of the Tajik authorities a “crime against humanity” and asked the government to “stop taking hostages of relatives and friends of political opponents.”

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan was in Germany in October 2023, when the opposition gathered against him, raised slogans and threw eggs at his car. This situation provoked the anger of the authorities and the relatives of some of the opponents were arrested and some were completely deprived of the use of electricity.

Human Rights Watch said in a report at that time that about 50 relatives of Berlin protesters were arrested in Tajikistan and some were released only after interrogation.

Source: Ozodi

The post “Don’t protest against the president.” Pressure on the family of the opposition in Tajikistan appeared first on Ankara Haftalik.

Chancellor says protests are ‘strong sign in favour of democracy’ as demonstrators gather in Berlin, Dresden, Hanover and other cities

About 200,000 people have taken to the streets of Germany in further protests against the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Protests on Saturday also took place in Dresden, Mainz and Hanover in a sign of growing alarm at strong public support for AfD.

Roughly 150,000 people flocked to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, where protesters gathered under the slogan “We are the Firewall” to protest against right-wing extremism and to show support for democracy.

The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wrote on X: “Whether in Eisenach, Homburg or Berlin: in small and large cities across the country, many citizens are coming together to demonstrate against forgetting, against hatred and hate speech.”

He said the protests were “a strong sign in favour of democracy and our constitution”.

AfD’s success has stoked concern among Germany’s mainstream parties, who fear it could win three state elections in eastern Germany in September, even though recent polls have shown a slight decline in AfD support.

Jakob Springfeld, who speaks for the NGO Solidarity Network Saxony, said he was shocked that it had taken such a long time for mass demonstrations against the far right, given the AfD had been successful in many smaller communities already.

“But there’s a jolt now. And the fact that the jolt is coming provides hope I believe,” he said.

Earlier this week, a Forsa poll showed that backing for AfD had dropped below 20% for the first time since July, with voters citing countrywide demonstrations against the far right as the most important issue.

According to the poll, AfD remained in second place behind the main opposition party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union, on 32%, while Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats polled third at 15%.

The protests, which are now in their fourth week, followed a report last month that two senior AfD members had attended a meeting to discuss plans for the mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin. AfD has denied that the proposal represented party policy.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told broadcaster Deutschlanfunk that while it was “legitimate to take to the streets”, protesters should not allow themselves to be used to distract parties from the country’s actual problems.

Chrupalla said Germany included Germans with a migrant background and that his party was not planning to expel them.

Source

The post About 200,000 people protest across Germany against far-right AfD party appeared first on Ankara Haftalik.

Frankfurt, Brussels (6/10 – 27)

While Tajik authorities have not been able to lay their hands on their activist opponents living in Europe, they are able to turn the screws on their families and relatives, back in the old country.

The recent case of arrest of family members took place shortly after President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Germany, to attend a summit of Central Asian leaders, at the end of last month. Throughout Rahmon’s visit, he was trailed by demonstrators holding up placards bearing pictures of political prisoners and calling him a dictator. When Rahmon headed to the Bundestag on September 29, protestors reportedly pelted his convoy with eggs, with one of them reportedly striking the President’s window.

Tajik security services then resorted to arbitrarily punishing people inside Tajikistan for the actions of their relatives overseas. Relatives of Sharoffidin Gadoev, Dilshod Sharifov, Ismoil Mahmadov, Jamshed Sharifov, Behruz Taghoizoda, and Muhammadjon Abdulloev – all members of the opposition Group 24 – were detained over the weekend on unspecified charges.

Opposition activist Sharoffidin Gadoev reported that Oishamo Abdulloeva, his 72-year-old mother, was detained on the morning of October 1. Gadoev, who took responsibility for the September 29 egg attack on Rahmon’s car, said that as the officers were taking his mother away, they angrily asked her why her son dared to call [Rahmon] a dictator and threw eggs at the President’s car in Berlin.

Ubaidullo Saidi, a participant in the protests, wrote in a Facebook post that security services officers had detained his father in the Rasht District. Saidi said agents called him and offered to release the old man on the condition that he return to Tajikistan.

Farhod Odinaev, a German-based Tajik activist, said that security forces came to his home in Tajikistan and wanted to take away his elderly mother, but instead decided to take his nephew. They asked Odinaev’s mother why (Tajiki opposition abroad) would dare to throw eggs at the car of the ‘Leader of the Nation’. Odinaev had spent 43 days in a Belarusian detention center after being detained on a Tajik request in 2019.

Police and security forces in Tajikistan have yet to acknowledge or comment on the arrests. According to RFE/RL sources, Abdulloev was one of more than a dozen people released in the early hours of October 3. At least seven relatives of the oppositions activists – all men – are still being held. Azda.tv, an exiled opposition-run website, has compiled numerous accounts detailing the detention of family members of the overseas opposition. In some families, five to six individuals are at times detained and interrogated about what their sons are up to, participating in protests in Europe, and why they are involved in politics at all.

The post Tajiki Government Detains Families of Activists After Egg Incident in Berlin appeared first on Ankara Haftalik.