Радио Озоди: Tajik authorities ban the online outlet Pamir Daily News

Radio Ozodi / Azattyq Asia report published 19 July 2023 states that the Supreme Court of Tajikistan designated the online outlet Pamir Daily News (also referred to as Pamir News), which covers events in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (ГБАО), as an extremist organisation and banned its activity in the country. The article reports that, according to a 19 July 2023 announcement on the website of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Supreme Court granted the Prosecutor General’s lawsuit filed “in the interests of protecting the foundations of the constitutional order, security and sovereignty of the Republic of Tajikistan,” with the Supreme Court’s decision itself dated 14 June 2023. The article states that the reason for the month-long delay in making the decision public is unknown.

The article reports that the Pamir Daily News website has been blocked in Tajikistan and that the Prosecutor General’s Office warned of criminal liability for cooperation with the site. It cites the Criminal Code of Tajikistan as providing for five-to-eight years’ imprisonment for participation in an organisation ruled extremist. No evidence or specific grounds for the designation are set out in the prosecutor’s announcement, the article states.

The Pamir Daily News editorial team is quoted describing the move as an attempt by authorities to silence feedback from GBAO and referring to “ethnocide” (этноцид) and displacement of Pamiris, and saying the outlet will continue its work “with even greater motivation and dedication.” The article notes the outlet became widely known during the May–June 2022 events in GBAO for publishing exclusive footage from Khorog (Хорог) and Rushan (Рушан).

The article recalls the 2020 Supreme Court ban on the Prague-based “Akhbor” (Ахбор) resource, for which the then-chief editor Mirzo Salimpur (Мирзо Салимпур) is quoted calling the decision “a direct attack on press freedom.” It references the 2015 designation of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (ПИВТ) as a terrorist organisation, and states that over the preceding year eight journalists and bloggers in Tajikistan were sentenced to between 7 and 21 years in closed trials, with some saying in letters from detention they had been forced by torture to admit “guilt.”