Refugee escapes Tajikistan after YouTube video plea for help

Sharofiddin Gadoev, a 33-year-old political activist who had fled repression in Tajikistan, was kidnapped by Russian officials during a visit to Moscow. He was forced onto a plane to Tajikistan and paraded around in concocted videos as someone who had seen the light and returned to Tajikistan willingly.  But his case confirms that naming and shaming by other governments and human rights activists can make a difference. For the past five years, amid a growing cult of personality around the authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon and his family, serious human rights abuses have become commonplace in…

© Human Rights Watch - lundi 18 mars 2019