Seven years after the social gathering was declared extremist by Tajikistan, the Islamic Renaissance Social gathering of Tajikistan (IRPT) has reportedly been named a “terrorist” group by the Supreme Court docket of Russia, too. That is certain to please Tajik President Emomali Rahmon when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, later this week.
The IRPT, till its banning in 2015, was Tajikistan’s largest opposition social gathering and the one authorized Islamist political social gathering registered in Central Asia. With roots within the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), the IRPT was first banned in 1993 by the Tajik authorities, newly headed by Rahmon. After the civil battle, which ran from 1992 to 1997 and ended with a peace settlement promising opposition illustration in authorities, the IRPT was legalized. In 2005, the social gathering secured two seats within the Tajik parliament, out of 63.
It’s price noting that the social gathering didn’t push something resembling an extremist platform. It even backed a secular, feminine candidate for president within the 2013 election. The hassle to pool opposition votes was in the end unsuccessful, provided that Oynihol Bobonazarova, the candidate and a outstanding human rights lawyer, was prevented from operating.
A decade after first getting into parliament, the IRPT misplaced its seats after a concerted strain marketing campaign (together with leaked intercourse tapes and arrests on doubtful costs). That was just the start of the IRPT’s woes. IRPT chief Muhiddin Kabiri, already in exile in June 2015, warned that Dushanbe was gearing as much as destroy the social gathering. And it did. By the tip of 2015, what remained of the social gathering’s management in Tajikistan had been arrested (finally their attorneys have been arrested, too). The social gathering was branded a “terrorist” outfit after being blamed for an outbreak of violence in early September 2015. The main points on the time have been murky, and time has solely deepened the uncertainty.
Within the years since, the IRPT has been blamed by Tajik authorities for varied crimes and situations of violence — all the time with out presenting proof. In 2018, when the Islamic State claimed accountability for a automobile assault that killed 4 international cyclists in Tajikistan, Dushanbe reflexively blamed the IRPT. Once more, no proof was offered of a connection between the assault and the IRPT.
All of the whereas, IRPT members continued to flee Tajikistan. Given the benefit of journey from Tajikistan to Russia, and familiarity of the route given the massive variety of annual Tajik labor migrants travelling north, many landed there first. However Russia has by no means been a protected place for Tajik political dissidents.
In 2016, a document variety of Tajik asylum seekers knocked on the door of the European Union, many making use of on the Polish border. Dushanbe sought the extradition of varied IRPT members from states like Greece unsuccessfully in 2017 and located methods to forcibly return others from states like Turkey and Russia, presumably with the help or no less than permission of native authorities. On the identical time, Tajik authorities escalated strain on the households of political dissidents remaining in Tajikistan.
The designation by Russia of the IRPT as an extremist group might put Tajik residents in Russia additional in danger. The mere allegation of affiliation with the IRPT may convey authorized hassle and deportation.
A spokesman for the IRPT, which operates now out of Europe, informed RFE/RL the designation was anticipated although the group doesn’t function in Russia. “We’re involved that this resolution will probably be abused by the authorities and plenty of harmless folks will probably be arrested and imprisoned because of this,” Bobojon Kayumov stated.
Over the past 12 months, quite a few Pamiri activists and leaders — some even with Russian citizenship — have been forcibly returned to Tajikistan from Russia. The sample is identical: a disappearance in Russia and a reappearance in Tajikistan, sometimes with a pressured confession or assertion of voluntary return earlier than costs are introduced. The Pamiris, an ethnic group native to Tajikistan’s huge Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), additionally shaped part of the UTO within the civil battle and have come below growing strain by the central authorities.
Whereas the Pamiris and IRPT are distinct (one an ethnic group and the opposite a political group), their members face elevated dangers in Russia. And Russia, with few buddies to depend after its invasion of Ukraine, has no qualms about deporting a few Tajiks at Dushanbe’s request.
