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Category: Watchdog

  • HRW Urges Kyrgyzstan To Lift Barriers To Education For Disabled Children

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) says thousands of Kyrgyz children with disabilities are “segregated” in the country’s residential institutions, where the New-York-based group says they can experience “neglect, inappropriate medical treatment, and discrimination.”

    In a report published on December 10, which marks International Human Rights Day, HRW says children with disabilities are subject to “discriminatory government evaluations that often lead to segregation in special schools or at home.”

    By ratifying the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) in 2019, Kyrgyzstan has committed to allow children with disabilities to “study in mainstream schools in the communities where they live,” said Laura Mills, researcher at HRW and the report’s author.

    “However, the government still needs to turn this pledge into a reality for children across the country,” where 3,000 children with disabilities remain in special institutions, she added.

    The study, titled Insisting On Inclusion: Institutionalization And Barriers To Education For Children With Disabilities In Kyrgyzstan, documents how children are denied quality, inclusive education in which children with and without disabilities study together in mainstream schools.

    HRW says it interviewed 111 people between October 2019 and July 2020, including children with disabilities, teachers, and staff at residential institutions and special schools, parents, and disability rights activists. The watchdog also visited six residential institutions and schools for children with disabilities in four regions.

    It found that these institutions had “insufficient personnel,” resulting in “neglect or lack of individualized attention.”

    Staff “regularly use psychotropic drugs or forced psychiatric hospitalization to control children’s behavior and punish them.”

    Children in residential institutions and special schools receive “either a poor education or no education at all.”

    Meanwhile, mainstream schools “often deny enrollment” to children who were recommended for special school or home education.

    And children who live at home “encounter significant, discriminatory obstacles to their education” in these schools.

    Parents of children with disabilities who receive education at home complained that teachers “come for very few hours and are often not trained in teaching a child with a disability.”

    Kyrgyzstan has pledged to close or transform several residential special schools, but Mills said that the authorities first need to “begin dismantling the obstacles that exclude them from schools in their communities.”

    “The government should ensure that children with disabilities study together with their peers and provide them with the tools they need to succeed.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Elderly Iranian Journalist Begins Prison Term Over Protest Coverage

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is urging Iran to cease jailing members of the press for their work after a 72-year-old journalist began a three-year prison sentence over his coverage of protests last year.

    “Jailing an elderly journalist in the middle of a raging pandemic shows how much contempt the Iranian judiciary has for the press,” CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said in a statement on December 8, a day after authorities arrested Kayvan Samimi and took him to serve a three-year sentence at Tehran’s Evin prison.

    Mansour said Samimi “must be released immediately and unconditionally, as should all of the journalists being held in Iran in retaliation for their reporting.”

    Samimi was arrested in Tehran in May 2019 while he was covering labor protests for the Iran-e Farda magazine, where he worked as editor in chief.

    He was freed on bail in June 2019 while facing charges of “colluding against national security” and “spreading antiestablishment propaganda.”

    In April this year, a Tehran court tried Samimi in absentia, sentencing him to six years in prison.

    Another court confirmed his conviction in May but reduced his sentence to three years, a decision that was upheld on further appeal in June.

    Samimi previously served six years in prison over his coverage of the contested 2009 presidential election.

    Since March, Iranian authorities have granted temporary release to tens of thousands of prisoners following concerns over the spread of the coronavirus in prisons in the Middle East’s worst-hit country. Many have since returned behind bars.

    With reporting by Radio Farda

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Iran, Tajikistan Among 10 Countries Designated By U.S. Over Violations Of Religious Freedom

    The United States has included Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan on a list of 10 countries designated for “particular concern” over religious freedom.

    The designation was issued under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 “for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a news release.

    The United States also placed Russia and three other countries on a “special watch list” for governments that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom.”

    The United States “once again took action to defend those who simply want to exercise this essential freedom,” Pompeo said.

    “The U.S. is unwavering in its commitment to religious freedom,” Pompeo added on Twitter. “No country or entity should be allowed to persecute people with impunity because of their beliefs. These annual designations show that when religious freedom is attacked, we will act.”

    The countries designated for “particular concern” are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

    The countries placed on the special watch list are the Comoros, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Russia.

    Pompeo also said Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and the Taliban were among several militant extremist groups designated as “entities of particular concern.”

    The announcement also said Uzbekistan and Sudan have been removed from the special watch list based on “significant, concrete progress” by their governments over the past year.

    “Their courageous reforms of their laws and practices stand as models for other nations to follow,” Pompeo said.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Remote-Control Killing: Iran Says Top Nuclear Scientist Assassinated By Gun Guided Via Satellite

    A machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system” was used to kill Iran’s top nuclear scientist, a senior official with the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has said.

    Officials have blamed Israel for the brazen, daytime attack on November 27 in Absard, some 60 kilometers from the capital, Tehran, though it didn’t offer any evidence for the claim.

    Israel, which has been blamed for the assassination of at least four other Iranian nuclear scientists, has not commented on the attack.

    The Black List: Assassinated Iranian Scientists

    The Black List: Assassinated Iranian Scientists Photo Gallery:

    The Black List: Assassinated Iranian Scientists

    The November 27 killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is the latest in a string of killings of men allegedly linked to Iran’s nuclear program. Fakhrizadeh is at least the fifth Iranian scientist to have been assassinated or die in mysterious circumstances since 2007.

    Speaking in Tehran on December 6, IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi said the smart system had “zoomed in” on Fakhrizadeh’s face using “artificial intelligence” while adding that Fakhrizadeh’s wife — who was only “25 centimeters away” — was unharmed.

    Fadavi confirmed earlier reports that there were no assassins on the ground to carry out the killing.

    He said the special weapon fired a total of 13 times, hitting Fakhrizadeh four or five times, including a shot to his spinal cord that caused severe bleeding and led to his death as he was being transported via helicopter to a Tehran hospital.

    IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi (file photo)

    IRGC Deputy Commander Ali Fadavi (file photo)

    Four bullets also hit the chief of Fakhrizadeh’s security detail, who had attempted to protect him by “throwing himself” on the nuclear scientist, Fadavi said. That confirmed media reports that one of Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards had been injured in the attack.

    He also said that 11 bodyguards were accompanying Fakhrizadeh and that the explosion of a truck during the attack targeted the security team.

    Fadavi’s account is the latest version of the assassination that has resulted in serious criticism of Iran’s security apparatus.

    Initial reports immediately after the killing suggested that the scientist was targeted in a suicide attack, which included several gunmen. But media later only reported that the assault included gunfire and a truck explosion.

    A filmmaker close to the hard-line faction of Iran’s establishment, which also includes the IRGC and other groups, said hours after the attack that 12 gunmen, including two snipers and a powerful car bomb, were involved in the ambush of Fakhrizadeh’s four-vehicle convoy.

    Later, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported that there were no hitmen on the ground and that the attack was carried out by a remote-controlled machine gun mounted on a pickup truck that later exploded.

    Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani had also said there were no attackers on the ground while blaming Israel and suggesting the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organzation had played a role.

    In an interview with state-controlled television, one of Fakhrizadeh’s sons, Hamed Fakhrizadeh, said his father had been warned by his security team on the day he was assassinated not to travel.

    But the top scientist, who kept a low-profile, had said that, due to a class he was teaching as well as an “important meeting,” he needed to return to Tehran.

    ‘Full-Blown War Zone’

    Hamed Fakhrizadeh described the scene of the assassination, which he came to shortly after the attack, as a “full-blown war zone.”

    His brother, Mehdi Fakhirzadeh, said in the same interview that his father was shot at a close range of four or five meters and that their mother, who he said had sat on the ground next to Fakhrizadeh, was unhurt.

    “She said ‘I don’t understand how the bullets didn’t hit me. I went there so that the bullets would not hit [Fakhrizadeh],’” he quoted his mother as having said.

    The comments could either confirm Fadavi’s account regarding a “satellite-controlled” weapon equipped with facial-recognition technology or suggest that snipers shot and killed the nuclear scientist.

    Fakhrizadeh’s assassination and the various accounts of how it was carried out have raised many questions, including the possible presence of “infiltrators” within Iran’s security apparatus who would have precise information about the movement of the country’s leading nuclear scientist, who was mentioned by name in a 2018 presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    If the official account regarding the remote-controlled killing is true, it is clear that the attack was well-planned and that someone had installed the alleged “remote-controlled” gun and a bomb on the truck before driving it to the site of the assassination. Some reports said the owner of the Nissan pickup truck had left Iran shortly before the attack.

    One major question is how the special equipment needed for the sophisticated attack was smuggled into Iran.

    Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

    Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

    It is also not clear why Fakhrizadeh — who knew that he was a wanted man due to his role in the country’s nuclear program and who, according to officials, had survived previous failed assassination attempts — had decided to get out of his vehicle during the attack. It’s especially strange because several media accounts say his vehicle was bullet-proof.

    Fakhrizadeh’s sons confirmed earlier reports that their father left his vehicle because he thought it had broken down after hearing the bullets hitting the car.

    But it is unclear why he didn’t ask someone on his security team to find out what was happening instead of putting himself at risk by leaving the vehicle.

    Officials have vowed to avenge Fakhrizadevh’s killing, which came nearly a year after the U.S. assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, who led the IRGC Quds Force in charge of the group’s regional activities. Soleimani was killed in a drone attack near Baghdad in January in an attack that the U.S. claimed responsibility for.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Businessman Received Flood Of Billion-Dollar Deals After Marrying ‘Putin’s Daughter,’ Report Shows

    A young Russian businessman received a host of proposals to buy stakes in some of the nation’s largest companies shortly after marrying a woman reported to be President Vladimir Putin’s youngest daughter, a new investigative report shows.

    Kirill Shamalov, who married Katerina Tikhonova in February 2013, had received at least four deals by April 2014 to buy shares in Russian companies in the telecommunications, real estate, oil services, and metals industry worth billions of dollars,a trove of his emails that were leaked to Istories and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and published on December 7 show.

    The emails, which go back to 2003 and whose authenticity have been confirmed with multiple sources, may give an inside peek into how quickly people can acquire enormous wealth upon entering Putin’s inner circle. Shamalov was just 30 at the time he married Tikhonova. Putin has never admitted that Tikhonova is his daughter.

    Katerina Tikhonova (file photo)

    Katerina Tikhonova (file photo)

    Shamalov would eventually agree in August 2014 to buy a 17 percent stake in petrochemicals giant Sibur from Putin’s long-time associate Gennady Timchenko, who decided to cut his stake in the company after being sanctioned by the United States, the report said.

    The emails do not state how much Shamalov paid for the Sibur stake. Shamalov would later claim that the company was worth $10 billion, potentially valuing the deal at $1.7 billion. However, Sibur is not a publicly traded company and its market value cannot be precisely determined.

    The report says it is unclear how Shamalov would have been able to buy Timchenko’s 17 percent stake since he would not have had enough collateral for such a large loan. However, an earlier proposal may give some indication.

    When Shamalov was given an offer to buy stakes in three telecommunications companies worth billions of dollars in May 2013, just three months after his marriage, his assistant suggested he borrow from “friendly financial institutions” like Gazfond, the pension fund of state-controlled Gazprom, which was headed by Shamalov’s brother, the report said.

    Shamalov did not randomly meet Tikhonova. He had known Putin’s daughter since childhood, the report states. His father, Nikolai Shamalov, is one of Putin’s oldest and closest friends.

    Preferential Treatment?

    Shamalov began working at Sibur in his 20s and, shortly after marrying Tikhonova, received a 3.8 percent stake in the company for just $100. The stake was potentially worth hundreds of millions at the time.

    Sibur’s Chairman Dmitry Konov said then that Shamalov acquired the stake as part of a company stock-option program. Many large companies offer stock to management and employees at a discount to stimulate their performance.

    However, the OCCRP report shows that other Sibur managers paid millions of dollars for their stock options, indicating that Shamalov received preferential treatment.

    Shortly after Russia annexed Crimea, prompting the U.S. and Europe to impose sanctions on people in Putin’s inner circle, including Timchenko, Shamalov was offered the chance to buy a 51 percent stake in titanium producer VSMPO-Avisma to potentially insulate himself.

    Since VSMPO-Avisma’s clients included major Western aerospace companies, Washington and Brussels would not sanction its controlling owner for fear of hurting its own economy, his assistant reasoned.

    The United States would eventually sanction Shamalov in April 2018. However, by then, he had split up with Tikhonova after less than five years of marriage and had sold his stake in Sibur for an undisclosed price.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Suspect In Killing Of Journalist In Kyiv Remanded In Custody

    A court in Kyiv has upheld an extension of the pretrial detention of one of the suspects in the high-profile 2016 killing of journalist Pavel Sheremet in the Ukrainian capital.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Russian Police Detain Kremlin Critic Near Opposition Gathering

    Russian police have detained prominent political scientist and Kremlin critic Valery Solovei.

    Solovei was detained in St. Petersburg on December 6 near a meeting of the opposition Change movement, which he founded in October.

    Police reportedly detained him for violating a coronavirus mask mandate, Solovei said.

    Earlier, unknown provocateurs threw a smoke bomb into the crowd of Change movement supporters.

    A former professor, Solovei had worked for the Moscow State Institute of International Relations until last year when he left the elite institution for what he said were “political reasons.”

    He founded Change as a decentralized movement, taking as its model NEXTA in neighboring Belarus, which has covered and coordinated ongoing protests against authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

    In September, Solovei was detained in Moscow after he and dozens of other protesters marched to show solidarity with protests in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk.

    With reporting by Current Time, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, and Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Ukraine’s Parliament Restores Anti-Corruption Legislation Annulled By Highest Court

    Ukraine’s parliament voted on December 4 to reimpose penalties for officials who provide false information about their incomes, defying an earlier ruling from the nation’s highest court.

    Ukraine’s Constitutional Court in October annulled key parts of the nation’s anti-corruption legislation, sparking a widespread backlash at home and abroad. The decision threatened Western financial aid to Kyiv and visa-free travel to Europe Union countries.

    The nation’s highest court declared unconstitutional a provision that required officials to submit electronic asset declarations. It also struck down legislation that made providing false income information a criminal offense.

    Ukraine has suffered from widespread corruption for decades that has held back foreign investment and economic growth. The prior legislation, passed after the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests that pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovuych from power, helped combat the problem by exposing and punishing those officials involved in graft.

    The new bill passed by parliament on December 4 is less severe.

    According to its provisions, an official who deliberately conceals assets worth between 1.3 million and 9 million hryvnya ($46,000 and $318,000) can be fined between 42,500 and 51,000 hryvnya ($1,500 to $1,800) or sentenced to between 150 and 240 hours of community service.

    Those who fail to declare assets worth over 9 million hryvnya will face a fine of between 51,000 and 85,000 hryvnya ($1,800 to $3,000) and between 150 and 240 hours of community service or up to two years of “restrictions of freedom” that do not include imprisonment.

    Additionally, any official convicted of hiding income can be banned from holding public office for up to three years

    Based on reporting by AP and the Kyiv Post

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • HRW: Azerbaijan Mistreats Armenian Prisoners of War

    Ethnic Armenian troops captured in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh fighting have been treated inhumanely on many occasions by Azerbaijani forces, being subjected to physical abuse and humiliation, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in a new report.

    Videos widely circulated on social media depict Azerbaijani captors variously slapping, kicking, and prodding Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), HRW says.

    In the videos, Armenian POWs are forced, under obvious duress and with the apparent intent to humiliate, to kiss the Azerbaijani flag, praise Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, swear at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, and declare that the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan.

    HRW closely examined 14 out of dozens of video recordings that show alleged abuse of Armenian POWs and were posted to social media. It also spoke with the families of five POWs whose abuse was depicted. The videos were posted to Telegram channels, including Kolorit 18+ and Karabah_News, and to several Instagram accounts.

    Although international humanitarian law and legislation regulating armed conflict require involved parties to treat POWs humanely in all circumstances, in most of the videos, the captors’ faces are visible, implying that they did not fear being held accountable, the New York-based watchdog said in its December 2 report.

    The third Geneva Convention protects POWs “particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.”

    “There can be no justification for the violent and humiliating treatment of prisoners of war,” said Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director.

    “Humanitarian law is absolutely clear on the obligation to protect POWs. Azerbaijan’s authorities should ensure that this treatment ends immediately.”

    While the precise numbers are not known, Armenian officials told HRW that Azerbaijan holds “dozens” of Armenian POWs.

    HRW said in its report that Armenia also holds a number of Azerbaijani POWs and “at least three foreign mercenaries.”

    HRW is investigating videos alleging abuse of Azerbaijani POWs that have circulated on social media and will report on any findings.

    Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the population reject Azerbaijani rule.

    They have been governing their own affairs, with support from Armenia, since Azerbaijan’s troops and ethnic Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.

    Fighting broke out again in and around Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27, leaving thousands of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides over the ensuing weeks. Azerbaijan has not provided a figure for its military casualties.

    Fighting ended on November 10 with a Russia-negotiated truce.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Azerbaijani Opposition Activist Gets One Year In Prison

    BAKU — A member of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP), Mahammad Imanli, has been sentenced to one year in prison for breaking coronavirus measures, a charge he rejects as false, calling it politically motivated.

    On December 1, Judge Mirheydar Zeynalov of the Sabuncu district court in Baku found Imanli guilty of failing to comply with coronavirus precautions and “spreading the disease.”

    Imanli rejected the court’s findings saying he was sentenced “only because I am a member of the AXCP.”

    A day earlier, a prosecutor at the trial asked the judge to sentence Imanli to 18 months in prison.

    Imanli has insisted that a police statement noting he was detained on July 20 was false.

    According to him and his lawyers, he was detained on July 16 and kept in a police station for four days, during which time he was interrogated regarding his participation in unsanctioned rallies in Baku in support of the country’s armed forces amid an escalation of military tensions with neighboring Armenia.

    Imanli is one of almost 50 AXCP members arrested in July after the rallies in support of the Azerbaijani Army.

    Investigators have said that, during the unsanctioned rallies in mid-July, AXCP activists clashed with police injuring some of them, upended private vehicles, and damaged parliament.

    Many of the activists who were detained were charged with damaging private property, attacking law enforcement officers, and disrupting public order.

    Dozens of AXCP members have been arrested, and some imprisoned, in recent years on what their supporters have called trumped-up charges.

    Opponents of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Western countries, and international human rights groups say his government has persistently persecuted critics, political foes, independent media outlets, and civic activists.

    Aliyev denies any rights abuses. He took power in 2003 shortly before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan since 1993.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Exiled Defectors From Belarus’s Law Enforcement Are Now Holding Their Ex-Colleagues To Account

    Andrey Astapovich was a police investigator in Belarus when he publicly announced his defection from the service in August and exhorted his countrymen to “expel the dictator.”

    Now, as he awaits the results of an asylum request from the Polish government, the 27-year-old is heading up a group of defectors from Belarusian law enforcement who are working to hold their former colleagues accountable for their actions in a continuing crackdown on protests over a disputed presidential election.

    “We will collect evidence and document all the crimes of this regime, from the rigging of elections to police violence and extrajudicial murders,” Astapovich told RFE/RL by telephone from Warsaw on November 30.

    Authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed a landslide victory and a sixth term in the August 9 vote, while opponents cried foul and accused him of falsifying the result. As large protests persist nearly four months later, the opposition continues to amass hours of video implicating law enforcement in brutal tactics against the demonstrators.

    Much of the establishment has remained outwardly loyal to Lukashenka, who critics and Western governments say has remained in office since 1994 by crushing dissent and fixing elections. But the new group co-founded by Astapovich, which calls itself By_Pol (short for Belarus Police), is working from exile to coax them into dissent.

    The idea of bringing together defectors from law enforcement came about in October, during a meeting in Poland between former state investigators, police officers, and prosecutors and exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who supporters contend would have won the presidential election if the votes had been counted honestly.

    A man shows bruises he says were left by a police beating after being released from a detention center in Minsk in August.

    A man shows bruises he says were left by a police beating after being released from a detention center in Minsk in August.

    Astapovich, who was a participant in that meeting, said that the ranks of Belarus’s law enforcement are split into two groups: those who chase protesters, wielding batons and firearms, and those he calls the “intellectuals” — senior-ranked civil servants with university degrees and an increasing sense of disillusionment with Lukashenka’s regime.

    It’s the former whose actions receive media attention, Astapovich said, because they are on the streets trying to crush the protests.

    “They give the impression of unity,” he said. “But those who actually make decisions are increasingly siding with the people. The system is collapsing.”

    It is difficult to verify Astapovich’s claims, or the scale of disillusionment within the ranks of Lukashenka’s government. In written comments to RFE/RL, Tsikhanouskaya confirmed the October meeting with former officials in Warsaw and said the opposition needs their expertise to understand how to get more officials on its side and gain a deeper understanding of how Lukashenka’s regime works.

    But while she stated that she sees “no obvious tendency” of desertion from Lukashenka’s security apparatus, she said many of its employees are simply afraid.

    “We receive hundreds of messages from people in power who want to defect,” she said. “But the system is built in such a way that the authorities take revenge on everyone who quits. Therefore, many hold on to their places, and remain silent.”

    One indication of By_Pol’s inside connections is the content on the group’s YouTube channel — more specifically, two leaked videos from cameras strapped to the chests of riot police officers as they worked on two recent Sundays to stamp out protests, which have gathered tens of thousands of views since their publication last week.

    The clips provide perhaps the most candid glimpses yet of how riot police on the streets of Minsk operate. One features video from inside a riot van packed with arrested activists who sit cowering on the ground as they’re driven to a detention center. The other shows a group of armed riot police officers traveling in an unmarked minivan to a street protest. They slide open the door and issue shots from a firearm. “Prepare the grenades!” one shouts.

    The second clip is dated October 25, the day riot police violently dispersed protesters gathered near the local headquarters of the Interior Ministry, and appears to have been filmed by someone taking part in the dispersal, Current Time reported on November 28. Current Time is a Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

    Astapovich would not identify the source of the videos, but he said hundreds of law enforcement officers are feeding material to his group.

    “They’re starting an insurrection from within the system,” he said. “We’ve launched this movement and with their help we’ll now fight the regime on our own terms.”

    With reporting by Iryna Romaliyskaya of Current Time

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dozens Reported Detained In Belarus At Anti-Lukashenka Marches

    MINSK — Authorities in Belarus have detained dozens of protesters amid ongoing demonstrations aimed at ousting strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka from the presidency.

    At least 45 people were reported detained in Minsk and Barauliany on November 29. Other detentions were reported across the country.

    This is the second week in which the Belarus demonstrations have been held under the rubric March of Neighbors. The opposition has adopted the strategy as a way of decentralizing the protests and making it more difficult for police to round up activists.

    RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported that law enforcement used tear gas and stun grenades against some demonstrators. Mobile Internet services were not available in Minsk and the central metro stations were closed.

    Demonstrations were reported in almost all districts of the capital.

    One video posted on social media appeared to show police in Minsk dragging away an unconscious person near the Pushkin metro station.

    It was unclear how many people participated in the demonstrations.

    Belarus has seen nearly continuous protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9 gave Lukashenka a sixth presidential term. The United States and the European Union have not recognized Lukashenka’s reelection.

    The opposition has been calling for Lukashenka’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.

    During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenka implied that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.

    “I will not work as president with you under the new constitution,” state media quoted him as saying.

    Lukashenka has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.

    A former collective farm manager, Lukashenka, 66, has ruled Belarus since 1994.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dozens Reported Detained In Belarus At Anti-Lukashenka Marches

    MINSK — Authorities in Belarus have detained dozens of protesters amid ongoing demonstrations aimed at ousting strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka from the presidency.

    At least 45 people were reported detained in Minsk and Barauliany on November 29. Other detentions were reported across the country.

    This is the second week in which the Belarus demonstrations have been held under the rubric March of Neighbors. The opposition has adopted the strategy as a way of decentralizing the protests and making it more difficult for police to round up activists.

    RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported that law enforcement used tear gas and stun grenades against some demonstrators. Mobile Internet services were not available in Minsk and the central metro stations were closed.

    Demonstrations were reported in almost all districts of the capital.

    One video posted on social media appeared to show police in Minsk dragging away an unconscious person near the Pushkin metro station.

    It was unclear how many people participated in the demonstrations.

    Belarus has seen nearly continuous protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9 gave Lukashenka a sixth presidential term. The United States and the European Union have not recognized Lukashenka’s reelection.

    The opposition has been calling for Lukashenka’s resignation, the release of all political prisoners, and a new election.

    During a visit to a Minsk hospital on November 27, Lukashenka implied that he would resign if a new constitution was adopted.

    “I will not work as president with you under the new constitution,” state media quoted him as saying.

    Lukashenka has called several times for a new constitution, but the opposition has dismissed the statements as a bid to buy time and stay in power.

    A former collective farm manager, Lukashenka, 66, has ruled Belarus since 1994.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Culture Of Corruption: Tajik Governor’s Friends, Relatives Illegally Get Free Land, Investigation Shows

    SOMONIYON, Tajikistan — Land is in high demand around the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, as a growing number of people from across Tajikistan move to the capital in search of better jobs.

    With house prices in Dushanbe beyond the reach of most Tajiks, a much-cheaper suburb in the Rudaki district has become the best place for many to settle. Some buy or rent houses, while others try to purchase land parcels to build their own homes.

    But an investigation by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service has revealed that the high demand has led to corruption in the distribution of land in Rudaki, despite measures announced by state to root out “illegal land sales” in the sought-after district.

    Multiple sources in Rudaki claim that former district Governor Rustam Akramzoda has fast-tracked several of his own relatives and acquaintances to obtain free land parcels.

    Akramzoda, who was dismissed from his post in a reshuffle on November 24, denies any wrongdoing.

    But documents obtained by RFE/RL indicate that at least 10 people with a connection to Akramzoda have jumped to the front of the line to receive land parcels in recent months. Others, meanwhile, wait for years before being offered land.

    In Tajikistan, laws ban the private sale of land. Agricultural land can only be leased from the state. People can also receive a plot of land — free of charge — from their local government to build a home.

    Only people who don’t have their own home are eligible for a land parcel in the district where they are registered as a permanent resident.

    Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan. (file photo)

    Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan. (file photo)

    Applications for the parcels of land are made to the district governor.

    The governor either approves the request, sends it to local authorities in each area for a final decision, or rejects the request if the applicant is deemed ineligible.

    The application must be accompanied by a lot of documentation, including a letter from the local authorities in the applicant’s home village or town to verify the applicant’s account of their personal circumstances and their genuine need for land.

    A governor’s decision is usually made within days, though actually getting the land takes much longer depending on the amount of land that is available.

    In Rudaki, officials told RFE/RL that there are currently about 300 approved applicants waiting to receive land plots. Authorities say the waiting time often takes between six months to one year. In reality, many families have been waiting several years.

    Some applicants claimed that many people — some of whom are not even Rudaki residents and therefore ineligible for land in the district — received it in a very short period of time. Official documents obtained by RFE/RL confirm this claim.

    The investigation also revealed that some those who got the land illegally have a personal connection to Akramzoda, who was appointed only two years ago to specifically fight illegal land deals, a longstanding problem in the capital’s popular suburb.

    Blatant Breach Of Law

    One document shows that a woman, F. D., received a land parcel in Rudaki’s Zarkamar village on September 15, less than three months after applying for it. RFE/RL has the woman’s full name but has decided not to disclose it for privacy reasons.

    A copy of F. D.’s application — obtained by RFE/RL — shows that it was submitted to Akramzoda on June 26.

    The information provided in the application is incomplete and didn’t meet legal requirements. For example, the applicant didn’t indicate her place of residence — vital information in determining an applicant’s eligibility.

    In another breach of the law, she didn’t provide a copy of her passport as part of her application.

    Another important requirement that was missing in her request is a verification letter from officials at her place of residence when the application was made.

    RFE/RL has since established that F.D. and her family are not Rudaki residents — a fact that disqualifies them from getting land in the district.

    Rustam Akramzoda (file photo)

    Rustam Akramzoda (file photo)

    However, in a blatant disregard of legal requirements, Akramzoda approved the application to enable F.D. to receive 0.6 hectares of land for free in Zarkamar to build a home.

    The investigation showed a further violation of the law in F.D.’s case when RFE/RL correspondents visited Zarkamar on November 11 to look at the land parcel illegally allocated to her: she was given land on which farmers grow wheat.

    Tajik law bans officials from distributing agricultural land for residential use.

    Speaking on condition of anonymity, various sources in the Rudaki district government told RFE/RL that F.D.’s husband — identified as Saidmumin — is related to Akramzoda.

    Contacted by RFE/RL, Akramzoda expressed surprise at the transaction, adding: “Sometimes things happen without our knowledge.”

    Asked whether Saidmumin is his relative, Akramzoda replied: “We need to look into this matter.”

    Different Rules For Different People

    In another case in January, the wife of Akramzoda’s former driver got a parcel of land in Rudaki just a week after applying for it.

    The woman, A.M. — whose name is being withheld for privacy reasons — applied for land in Rudaki on January 7 and was granted a lot in the village of Istiqlol in the Rudaki district on January 13.

    A copy of A.M.’s application — obtained by RFE/RL — shows that she is not a Rudaki resident and therefore ineligible to receive land there. The woman and her family are legally registered residents of the Gulrez village in the Vahdat district.

    But Akramzoda illegally approved her request and fast-tracked the case — as he had done on several other occasions involving his relatives and acquaintances.

    Asked by RFE/RL about A.M.’s case, Akramzoda said he doesn’t know “how and where she got the land.”

    “The district governor can’t personally check each applicant’s circumstances that have already been scrutinized by lower-level officials — starting from the village chief and the Land Committee representatives. So, sometimes it happens that the governor just trusts their judgement,” he added.

    In another twist in A.M.’s case, RFE/RL discovered that in June she legally handed over the ownership rights to her plot of land to a person identified as Dilovarsho Talibov. In an important detail in the handover document — signed at a Rudaki notary’s office — the land parcel is described as a “house.” But at that time it still was just an empty plot of land.

    RFE/RL has a copy of the document that says Talibov has the legal right to “sell this house with the price and conditions he chooses.”

    On November 11, RFE/RL correspondents visited Istiqlol village to see the land parcel A.M. had received. Construction of a home was just beginning. Two workers at the site told RFE/RL they had begun working in October.

    RFE/RL approached A.M. and her husband, Umar Gulov, for comment. Gulov initially agreed to meet our correspondents at RFE/RL’s Dushanbe bureau, but apparently changed his mind after arriving and left the office without speaking.

    It’s not known whether A.M. sold the land — which she received for free — to Talibov after wrongfully registering the lot as having a house on it.

    The transaction happened while some 300 others — lawful residents of Rudaki with legal rights to land plots — are still waiting for their parcels.

    ‘Incurable Disease’

    With nearly 520,000 inhabitants and a total area of only 1,812 square kilometers, Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan, as well as being the most populous in the Central Asian country of some 9.5 million.

    Rudaki’s population has grown by 125,000 in the past decade and the government says migration from other districts is a key factor in the its rapid population growth.

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (file photo)

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (file photo)

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has said that the illegal sale of land amid a burgeoning demand has become an “incurable disease” in the district.

    Ironically, Akramzoda was appointed governor of Rudaki in 2018, a year after Rahmon ordered the government to clean up the corruption in land distribution in that suburb.

    In a speech in October 2017, Rahmon said vast amounts of farmland had been illegally given away as real estate. Between 2015 and 2017, law enforcement agencies recorded more than 1,500 cases that involved illegal land transactions in Rudaki, he added.

    Official sources say that upon Akramzoda’s appointment the president instructed him to put an end to such illegal land deals in the district.

    But the results of the RFE/RL investigation suggests Akramzoda merely continued the practice of corruption he was assigned to eliminate.

    Akramzoda’s dismissal by Rahmon came just five days after RFE/RL’s Tajik Service issued its investigative report.

    It’s unclear if the dismissal was part of an ongoing reshuffle of a wide range of government officials that followed the October 11 presidential election or because the president was disappointed in his work halting the corrupt distribution of land in Rudaki.

    But Akramzoda told RFE/RL on November 24 that he lost his job “because of the [investigative] report” by the Tajik Service.

    It remains to be seen if the departure of one official will end the culture of corruption in Rudaki or whether it will be another governor’s turn to grant the valuable land plot to his own friends and family.

    Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Mumin Ahmadi, Shahlo Abdulloh, and Mullorajab Yusufi

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Culture Of Corruption: Tajik Governor’s Friends, Relatives Illegally Get Free Land, Investigation Shows

    SOMONIYON, Tajikistan — Land is in high demand around the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, as a growing number of people from across Tajikistan move to the capital in search of better jobs.

    With house prices in Dushanbe beyond the reach of most Tajiks, a much-cheaper suburb in the Rudaki district has become the best place for many to settle. Some buy or rent houses, while others try to purchase land parcels to build their own homes.

    But an investigation by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service has revealed that the high demand has led to corruption in the distribution of land in Rudaki, despite measures announced by state to root out “illegal land sales” in the sought-after district.

    Multiple sources in Rudaki claim that former district Governor Rustam Akramzoda has fast-tracked several of his own relatives and acquaintances to obtain free land parcels.

    Akramzoda, who was dismissed from his post in a reshuffle on November 24, denies any wrongdoing.

    But documents obtained by RFE/RL indicate that at least 10 people with a connection to Akramzoda have jumped to the front of the line to receive land parcels in recent months. Others, meanwhile, wait for years before being offered land.

    In Tajikistan, laws ban the private sale of land. Agricultural land can only be leased from the state. People can also receive a plot of land — free of charge — from their local government to build a home.

    Only people who don’t have their own home are eligible for a land parcel in the district where they are registered as a permanent resident.

    Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan. (file photo)

    Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan. (file photo)

    Applications for the parcels of land are made to the district governor.

    The governor either approves the request, sends it to local authorities in each area for a final decision, or rejects the request if the applicant is deemed ineligible.

    The application must be accompanied by a lot of documentation, including a letter from the local authorities in the applicant’s home village or town to verify the applicant’s account of their personal circumstances and their genuine need for land.

    A governor’s decision is usually made within days, though actually getting the land takes much longer depending on the amount of land that is available.

    In Rudaki, officials told RFE/RL that there are currently about 300 approved applicants waiting to receive land plots. Authorities say the waiting time often takes between six months to one year. In reality, many families have been waiting several years.

    Some applicants claimed that many people — some of whom are not even Rudaki residents and therefore ineligible for land in the district — received it in a very short period of time. Official documents obtained by RFE/RL confirm this claim.

    The investigation also revealed that some those who got the land illegally have a personal connection to Akramzoda, who was appointed only two years ago to specifically fight illegal land deals, a longstanding problem in the capital’s popular suburb.

    Blatant Breach Of Law

    One document shows that a woman, F. D., received a land parcel in Rudaki’s Zarkamar village on September 15, less than three months after applying for it. RFE/RL has the woman’s full name but has decided not to disclose it for privacy reasons.

    A copy of F. D.’s application — obtained by RFE/RL — shows that it was submitted to Akramzoda on June 26.

    The information provided in the application is incomplete and didn’t meet legal requirements. For example, the applicant didn’t indicate her place of residence — vital information in determining an applicant’s eligibility.

    In another breach of the law, she didn’t provide a copy of her passport as part of her application.

    Another important requirement that was missing in her request is a verification letter from officials at her place of residence when the application was made.

    RFE/RL has since established that F.D. and her family are not Rudaki residents — a fact that disqualifies them from getting land in the district.

    Rustam Akramzoda (file photo)

    Rustam Akramzoda (file photo)

    However, in a blatant disregard of legal requirements, Akramzoda approved the application to enable F.D. to receive 0.6 hectares of land for free in Zarkamar to build a home.

    The investigation showed a further violation of the law in F.D.’s case when RFE/RL correspondents visited Zarkamar on November 11 to look at the land parcel illegally allocated to her: she was given land on which farmers grow wheat.

    Tajik law bans officials from distributing agricultural land for residential use.

    Speaking on condition of anonymity, various sources in the Rudaki district government told RFE/RL that F.D.’s husband — identified as Saidmumin — is related to Akramzoda.

    Contacted by RFE/RL, Akramzoda expressed surprise at the transaction, adding: “Sometimes things happen without our knowledge.”

    Asked whether Saidmumin is his relative, Akramzoda replied: “We need to look into this matter.”

    Different Rules For Different People

    In another case in January, the wife of Akramzoda’s former driver got a parcel of land in Rudaki just a week after applying for it.

    The woman, A.M. — whose name is being withheld for privacy reasons — applied for land in Rudaki on January 7 and was granted a lot in the village of Istiqlol in the Rudaki district on January 13.

    A copy of A.M.’s application — obtained by RFE/RL — shows that she is not a Rudaki resident and therefore ineligible to receive land there. The woman and her family are legally registered residents of the Gulrez village in the Vahdat district.

    But Akramzoda illegally approved her request and fast-tracked the case — as he had done on several other occasions involving his relatives and acquaintances.

    Asked by RFE/RL about A.M.’s case, Akramzoda said he doesn’t know “how and where she got the land.”

    “The district governor can’t personally check each applicant’s circumstances that have already been scrutinized by lower-level officials — starting from the village chief and the Land Committee representatives. So, sometimes it happens that the governor just trusts their judgement,” he added.

    In another twist in A.M.’s case, RFE/RL discovered that in June she legally handed over the ownership rights to her plot of land to a person identified as Dilovarsho Talibov. In an important detail in the handover document — signed at a Rudaki notary’s office — the land parcel is described as a “house.” But at that time it still was just an empty plot of land.

    RFE/RL has a copy of the document that says Talibov has the legal right to “sell this house with the price and conditions he chooses.”

    On November 11, RFE/RL correspondents visited Istiqlol village to see the land parcel A.M. had received. Construction of a home was just beginning. Two workers at the site told RFE/RL they had begun working in October.

    RFE/RL approached A.M. and her husband, Umar Gulov, for comment. Gulov initially agreed to meet our correspondents at RFE/RL’s Dushanbe bureau, but apparently changed his mind after arriving and left the office without speaking.

    It’s not known whether A.M. sold the land — which she received for free — to Talibov after wrongfully registering the lot as having a house on it.

    The transaction happened while some 300 others — lawful residents of Rudaki with legal rights to land plots — are still waiting for their parcels.

    ‘Incurable Disease’

    With nearly 520,000 inhabitants and a total area of only 1,812 square kilometers, Rudaki is the most densely populated district in Tajikistan, as well as being the most populous in the Central Asian country of some 9.5 million.

    Rudaki’s population has grown by 125,000 in the past decade and the government says migration from other districts is a key factor in the its rapid population growth.

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (file photo)

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (file photo)

    Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has said that the illegal sale of land amid a burgeoning demand has become an “incurable disease” in the district.

    Ironically, Akramzoda was appointed governor of Rudaki in 2018, a year after Rahmon ordered the government to clean up the corruption in land distribution in that suburb.

    In a speech in October 2017, Rahmon said vast amounts of farmland had been illegally given away as real estate. Between 2015 and 2017, law enforcement agencies recorded more than 1,500 cases that involved illegal land transactions in Rudaki, he added.

    Official sources say that upon Akramzoda’s appointment the president instructed him to put an end to such illegal land deals in the district.

    But the results of the RFE/RL investigation suggests Akramzoda merely continued the practice of corruption he was assigned to eliminate.

    Akramzoda’s dismissal by Rahmon came just five days after RFE/RL’s Tajik Service issued its investigative report.

    It’s unclear if the dismissal was part of an ongoing reshuffle of a wide range of government officials that followed the October 11 presidential election or because the president was disappointed in his work halting the corrupt distribution of land in Rudaki.

    But Akramzoda told RFE/RL on November 24 that he lost his job “because of the [investigative] report” by the Tajik Service.

    It remains to be seen if the departure of one official will end the culture of corruption in Rudaki or whether it will be another governor’s turn to grant the valuable land plot to his own friends and family.

    Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Mumin Ahmadi, Shahlo Abdulloh, and Mullorajab Yusufi

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Swedish Foreign Minister Calls Iranian Counterpart Over Death Sentence Against Doctor

    Sweden’s foreign minister spoke to her Iranian counterpart on November 24 after reports that Iran may soon execute Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali.

    “Sweden condemns the death penalty and works to ensure that the verdict against Djalali is not enforced,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Twitter.

    She said she had spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after reports Iran may be planning to enforce the death penalty sentence against Djalali, a Swedish citizen.

    Swedish radio quoted Djalali’s wife as saying earlier on November 24 he had called her to tell her he believed he may soon be executed.

    Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was arrested in Iran in 2016 and later convicted of espionage.

    He was accused of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists. Iran’s Supreme Court in 2017 upheld the death sentence.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Swedish authorities’ information on Djalali’s situation was “incomplete and incorrect,” according to Reuters.

    Khatibzadeh was quoted by state media as saying that Zarif told Linde that Iran’s judiciary is independent “and any meddling in the issuance or execution of judicial rulings is unacceptable.”

    Amnesty International called on all countries to intervene, including through their embassies in Tehran, to save Djalali’s life.

    “It is appalling that despite repeated calls from UN human rights experts to quash Ahmadreza Djalali’s death sentence and release him, the Iranian authorities have instead decided to push for this irreversible injustice,” Diana Eltahawy, an Amnesty International deputy director, said in a statement.

    “They must immediately halt any plans to execute Ahmadreza Djalali and end their shocking assault on his right to life,” Eltahawy said.

    With reporting by Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.