DUSHANBE -- Asliddin Sharipov, the brother of the director of an opposition online television station, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on unspecified charges, a close associate told RFE/RL on July 29.
According to the associate, Sharipov was sentenced in March and is currently being held in a correctional colony in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe.
Sharipov is a brother of Shavkat Muhammadi, the director of the opposition Payom online TV channel, who currently resides in the European Union.
Police in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg arrested Sharipov in September 2022 and extradited him to Tajikistan on October 1, 2023.
A court in the Russian city of Nizhny Tagil said at the time that Sharipov is wanted by Tajikistan on charges of collaborating with a banned group and the propagation of said group’s activities online.
It remains unclear what exactly Sharipov is accused of as Tajik officials have not made any public statements regarding Sharipov's case.
Shavkat Muhammadi told the Norwegian Helsinki Committee he was convinced that Tajik authorities are persecuting his brother to put pressure on him in retaliation for criticism of the government aired on Payom.net, the independent media outlet he leads in exile.
Dozens of Tajik opposition figures and activists living abroad are wanted by the Tajik authorities on charges of terrorism and extremism.
President Emomali Rahmon, who has run the Central Asian nation for almost 30 years, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his administration's alleged disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism.