RFERL: 27 Yazgulom arrested on Ansarullah charges GBAO

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Tajik Service, dated 8 August 2024. The article reports that Tajikistan’s First Deputy Interior Minister Abdurahmon Alamshozoda confirmed to journalists in Dushanbe on 8 August that 27 residents of the Yazgulom community in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) had been arrested on suspicion of membership in the banned Ansarullah Islamic group, with four additional individuals added to the wanted list. The report states that most of those detained had been held incommunicado for months after extradition from Russia earlier in 2024, and that details of the charges remain unclear. The article notes that RFE/RL had been documenting these arrests for months, citing relatives and sources close to law enforcement. It places the arrests in the context of the post-May 2022 crackdown in GBAO, when authorities acknowledged 10 deaths and 27 injuries during the dispersal of protests, while residents of Rushon district reported 21 bodies at the clash sites. The document reports that dozens of GBAO residents have since been jailed on terrorism and extremism charges, and that protests remain rare under President Emomali Rahmon. Internal sources cited include Alamshozoda’s statement, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reporting, and Rushon district residents.