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Tajikistan|life|January 13, 2017 / 05:28 PM
Human rights situation deteriorated sharply in Tajikistan – HRW

AKIPRESS.COM - Tajikistan’s human rights situation deteriorated sharply in 2016, as authorities sentenced the leadership of the country’s main opposition party to lengthy prison terms, imprisoned human rights lawyers and other perceived government critics, and predetermined the result of a constitutional referendum that will allow authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon to remain president for life, reports the Human Rights Watch.

Authorities organized and led numerous acts of retaliation, including incidents of mob violence, against relatives of government critics abroad. Activists reported cases of torture and deaths in custody of persons imprisoned on politically motivated charges.

The government continued its multi-year campaign to enforce severe restrictions on religious practice.

While the government took steps to enforce a 2013 law on the prevention of domestic violence, activists and service providers report that implementation of the law’s core legal protections, including prosecutions of those who repeatedly engage in domestic violence, are lacking.

Following a country visit to Tajikistan in March, the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression stressed his “grave concern about increasing restrictions on opposition parties, civil society and the media over the past year.” In June, he expressed his dismay at the lengthy sentences imposed on the IRPT leadership.

Following its Universal Periodic Review in May, the Tajik government accepted recommendations to ensure fair trials for activists, political leaders, and lawyers on trial, which contrasted sharply with authorities’ actions on the ground, but rejected recommendations to release activists and lawyers detained on politically motivated grounds.

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