Tajikistan
Маҳбусони сиёсӣ дар Тоҷикистон
19 documented cases
Tajikistan holds one of the most opaque political-prisoner populations in Central Asia. After authorities banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) as 'extremist' in September 2015, dozens of its leaders, members, and family members were imprisoned in closed trials, with several sentences exceeding twenty years. The opposition movement Group 24 was banned the previous year on similar grounds, and its members in exile have repeatedly been targeted abroad. Independent lawyers who took on these cases — including Buzurgmehr Yorov and Nuriddin Mahkamov — were themselves prosecuted and jailed.
A second sustained wave of detentions has come from Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), where security operations in 2021 and 2022 against the predominantly Pamiri population resulted in killings, mass arrests, and long prison sentences for civil-society leaders, journalists, and youth activists. Political Prisoner Watch aggregates verified case records from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the regional outlet Asia-Plus, translating them into English and standardizing the case taxonomy alongside other monitored countries.
Primary sources: Human Rights Watch, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Amnesty International — Tajikistan, Asia-Plus
The article mentions Abduhalim Nazarzoda, former deputy minister of defense, whose rebellion led to the banning of the Islamic Renaissance Party in 2015. Nazarzoda was one of the last commanders of the United Tajik Opposition forces who was integrated into the government.
Rukhshona Khakimova was initially detained without a warrant by police officers outside her home in Dushanbe on July 16, 2024. She was later formally arrested and taken into custody after her verdict on February 5, 2025. Her charges allegedly stemmed from interviews she conducted for a research project on international aid from China to Tajikistan, where she reportedly spoke with two defendants, asking general questions not related to classified information.
Sorbon Yunoev is a 63-year-old Pamiri activist and farmer from Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan region, known for supporting indigenous Pamiri rights and criticizing government actions, especially after the November 2021 protests. During his trial, Yunoev was accused of raising his voice against the acting authorities; of expressing his support for the participants in mass protests in Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province in November 2021 and May 2022; of expressing his support for the head of Commission, who had been arrested and detained on 28 May 2022 and had subsequently been sentenced to 29 years of imprisonment; of organizing a peaceful sports event held in Khorugh on 30 May 2020; and of publicly criticizing unreasonable use of the State budget for the construction of a flagpole with the national flag of Tajikistan in one of the districts of Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province. For these actions, he was found guilty of “participation in a criminal association” under article 187 (2) of the Criminal Code. According to the source, Yunoev was convicted of participation in a criminal association, which does not match the activities he was charged with during his trial. The source adds that there is not much information about Yunoev’s conviction, since his relatives tried to secure a lawyer of his choice, but several lawyers refused to work on the case due to fear of prosecution by the authorities. It is alleged that the authorities have harassed lawyers and human rights defenders working on the cases of those detained following the events in Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province.
Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov is a human rights defender and lawyer who leads the Pamir Lawyers Association. He is a member of the Civil Society Coalition against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan, and a member of the Commission 44, created to document police brutality in Gorno-Badakhshan, an autonomous region of Tajikistan.
Prominent journalist and woman human rights defender in the Gorno-Badakhshan region. She is a representative of the indigenous Pamiri minority group and an independent journalist – working with “Asia Plus”, “Argumenti Nedeli”, and has collaborated with “Ferghana”. In recent years, Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva founded the NGO, “Nomus va Insof”, where she had focused on children’s rights, upbringing and education, and women’s rights.
Buzurgmehr Yorov is a Tajik human rights lawyer and member of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan. He represented IRPT members and publicly revealed their torture in pre-trial detention. Yorov was charged with fraud and 'Public invitation to change the constitutional system by violence' (article 307). His case was classified as 'top secret' in 2015. After various sentence reductions via amnesties, a new criminal case for large-scale fraud was opened against him in April 2023.
Mahmadali Hayit is the Deputy head of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). A member of the party since 1992 and a member of its Supreme Council since 1999, he served as deputy chairman from 2007 until his arrest in September 2015. He was accused of plotting a coup and collaborating with General Nazarzoda, despite a lack of evidence. Following a closed trial, he was found guilty of numerous charges including terrorism, armed rebellion, and murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in a maximum security correctional facility.
Sattor Karimov joined the Islamic Revival movement in the 1970s. IRPT Presidium member. He was arrested on September 16, 2015, and accused of involvement in a mutiny allegedly organized by General Nazarzoda. He was sentenced to 26 years in a strict regime penal colony in June 2016. Karimov was killed during a riot in May 2019 at Vahdat’s Correctional Colony No. 3/2.
Abdusamad Gayratov, a graduate of the State University of Kulyab and entrepreneur, led the IRPT Kulyab branch until 2010 and served on the Supreme Political Council. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, Gayratov stood as the IRPT candidate for the lower chamber representing the Kulyab region. During this campaign and other occasions he was persecuted by the authorities using different means from administrative charges to attacks. On September 16, 2015, he was detained by the Tajik State National Security Committee (SNSC) officers at his home in Kulob. On June 2, 2016, along with 13 other members of the IRPT Supreme Political Council, Gayratov was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony.
Vokhidkhon Kosiddinov has been an IRPT member since 1989. From 1999 to 2001, he headed the party’s branch in the Isfara district. Between 2001 and 2003, he served as Deputy Secretary General of the IRPT. From 2003 to 2006, Vokhidkhon Kosiddinov held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Party. From 2008 to 2014, he served as Head of the IRPT Administration, and since 2014, as Head of the Party’s Election Headquarters. He is also a member of the IRPT Supreme Political Council and its Presidium.
Muhammadsharif Nabiev is the Head of the IRPT branch in Kulyab and a member of the Presidium. He was detained on September 16, 2015, and sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime penal colony.
The first deputy chairman of Tajikistan’s Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT), otherwise known as Saidumar Husaini/Khusaini. Despite a lack of evidence, the IRPT was accused of plotting a coup and collaborating with General Nazarzoda. Khisaynov along with other IRPT leaders were charged with terrorism, armed rebellion, murder, public appeals to “violent change of the constitutional order,” incitement to racial and religious hatred, and organization of a criminal group.
15 of 19 cases are not yet plotted on the map, typically because the public source did not record a precise location.