DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan's Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon has confirmed recent reports by RFE/RL's Tajik Service about a series of arrests of noted public figures and politicians.
RFE/RL reported earlier, citing its sources close to the Central Asian nation's law enforcement, that former Foreign Minister Hamrohkhon Zarifi, former parliament speaker Akbarshoh Iskandarov, Democratic Party of Tajikistan deputy chairman Ahmadshoh Komilzoda, and Social Democratic Party deputy chairman Shokirjon Hakimov had been arrested on unspecified charges.
The arrests came after the state-run Khovar news agency cited the Prosecutor-General's Office in June, saying that the lawmaker and ex-chairman of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, Saidjafar Usmonzoda, was arrested on suspicion of plotting to forcibly seize power.
Yusuf Rahmon said at the time at a parliamentary session that Usmonzoda was suspected of collaborating with the National Alliance of Tajikistan -- a group uniting self-exiled opposition politicians and activists that had been banned in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
SEE ALSO: Tajikistan Silences One Of The Last Voices Of Dissent In The CountryYusuf Rahmon, who is an in-law of President Emomali Rahmon, said on August 9 that all the arrests are linked to the case against Usmonzoda, adding that those arrested had been charged with high treason.
He declined to elaborate further, saying that details of the investigation are classified.
It is not clear how the arrested men pleaded as neither their relatives nor lawyers have made any public statements.
Sources told RFE/RL that only two of those arrested, Akbarshoh Iskandarov and Shokirjon Hakimov, had managed to get private lawyers, while the others are represented by state-appointed attorneys. However, none of the lawyers has ever been able to meet with their clients, the sources said.
The Tajik government has brutally cracked down on dissent over the years, jailing opposition politicians or forcing them into self-exile. Dozens of independent journalists, activists, and government critics were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
President Rahmon, who has run Tajikistan for almost 30 years, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his regime's stifling of political pluralism, independent media, religious freedoms, and civil society.
In recent years, several Tajik journalists, rights activists, and opposition politicians have been handed lengthy prison terms on charges seen by rights groups as trumped-up and politically motivated.