Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
Freedom of conscience is constitutionally guaranteed in Tajikistan but it is severely limited by the 2009 Law on Religion, which bans unregistered religious activity, private religious education, and proselytising. The legislation, which recognises the special status of the Hanafi school, gives the government broad powers to intervene in religious matters, including Islamic worship, the appointment of imams, deciding the content of sermons, and strict censorship of religious material. Under a 2011 law on parental responsibility, minors under 18 are not allowed to take part in religious activities.
In August 2021, new legislation was introduced allowing Tajik men, as an alternative to compulsory two-year conscription, to carry out a military training session lasting one month, upon paying the equivalent of $2,200. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, this is not a real alternative to military service for reasons of conscience, as it still requires a month of military training.
In October 2021, the Tajik parliament (Majilis) began examining amendments to the Criminal Code, which were then approved on 23 December. Under the new rules, providing unauthorised religious education, even online, is no longer an administrative offence but a felony, punishable by penalties of up to 76,000 somoni (about US$ 6,800) or imprisonment of up to three years. In December 2021, Article 474 of the Administrative Code was amended, punishing violations of the Law on Religion, doubling on average previous penalties.
Incidents and developments
The government of Tajikistan, ruled since 1992 by President Emomali Rahmon, is neighboured by China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan, and thus fears both internal opposition groups (notably the banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, IRPT), as well as external extremist influence.
Religion in Tajikistan has historically been controversial. Following Tajikistan’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country endured a civil war that lasted from 1992 until 1997 with the Rahmon government defeating an alliance of Islamists, local ethnic groups, and liberals.
In 1999 and 2003, the Rahmon administration passed two significant counterterrorism laws; the ambiguous language was used to suppress opposition, but also had had implications for religious freedom. In March 2016, David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, noted: “I am especially concerned that the counter-terrorism and extremism laws do not sufficiently define ‘extremism’ or ‘terrorism,’ investing broad discretion to the Prosecutor General and leaving the judiciary with limited tools to constrain the use of these laws against parties and associations.”
On 2 January 2018, President Rahmon approved amendments to the 2009 Law on Religion restricting membership in what the government considers to be extremist organizations; these are, among other definitions, identified as those seeking to destabilize, subvert the constitutional order, and those aiming to seize power and incite religious hatred. The government maintains a list of banned organizations – most notably Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist movements – accused of employing terrorist tactics to advance Islamist political goals. Salafists are also accused of not recognising other branches of Islam, such as Shi'a and Sufism, and representing a potential threat to national security. More specifically, Tajikistan’s Council of Ulema regards Salafi views as alien and divisive within its own traditional faith interpretations, the puritan teachings not appropriate for Tajikistan.
In 2018, Tajikistan witnessed a terrorist attack against tourists claimed by ISIS, and on 19 May 2019, a prison riot in Vakhdat that took the lives of 29 inmates and three prison guards. Again, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Concerns about extremist threats have since increased with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
The government, through the Council of the Ulema and the State Committee for Religious Affairs, limits religious expression: every imam and cleric is appointed, each mosque must be approved, there are age restrictions on who can perform the hajj, and open displays of religious devotion by Muslims, such as wearing the hijab, is prohibited.
In a June 2019 submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in advance of the review of Tajikistan at its 146th Session, the NGO’s Khoma and Article 19, in a review of Article 3 of the Law on Combating Terrorism Extremism observed: “…among the activities considered extremist are the ‘promotion of exclusiveness, superiority or inferiority of citizens on the basis of their relation to religion, social, racial, national, religious or language identity’; ‘humiliation of national advantage’; and ‘undermining safety of the Republic of Tajikistan.’”
In January 2020, the Rahmon administration passed a new Law on Counteracting Extremism granting the authorities wide-ranging powers to restrict the rights to freedom of expression. Muslims accused of belonging to extremist groups have been convicted and jailed.
In April 2021, 119 people were given sentences of up to 23 years for membership in the Muslim Brotherhood.
On 4 June 2021, Imam Mahmadsodyk Sayidov was sent to prison for five years for allegedly collaborating with the editor of banned website Isloh.net and refusing to preach a sermon provided by the State Committee for Religious Affairs and Regulation of Traditions, Ceremonies and Rituals (SCRA), preaching his own sermon instead.
In July 2021, 14 residents in a district in Sughd province were sentenced to more than five years for membership in a Salafi group. The defendants claim that their confessions were extracted under torture.
Reports are common of various government officials stopping women in the street and ordering them to take off their Islamic headscarves. In July 2021, some women wearing the hijab were also prevented from entering schools and hospitals.
Since the 2016 ban on private religious schools (including lessons given via the internet) was tightened with the 6 October 2021 penal code amendments, Tajik authorities have identified 1,833 cases of illegal religious training in 2019 – 2020 and in the first nine months of 2021. Nusratullo Mirzoyev, the first deputy chairman of the State Committee for Security, stated in his report: “95% of young people who join groups and organizations with radical tendencies received their first education in private religious schools.” In the second half of 2021, 10 Tajik children attending a religious school in Bangladesh were forcibly repatriated.
Punishment for government criticism can also extend to family members. In April 2022, Shohida Mamadjonova, the mother of Sherzod Mamadjonov, a German-based Tajik blogger known for criticising the government’s restrictive policies against practising Muslims, was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of extremism.
In late May 2022, Sulaymon Davlatzoda, Chairman of the State Committee for Religious Affairs, summoned the leaders of Protestant churches to inform them that new churches would no longer be registered in the future.
In contrast to restrictions faced by the Protestant denominations, traditional groups, like the Catholic Church, continue to operate without undue government interference. In June 2021, the Catholic community, which numbers about a hundred people, took part in the inauguration of the first monastery of contemplative life in the country, dedicated to Saint John Paul II.
For non-traditional groups, religious practice is more complicated. This is particularly true for Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were banned in 2007. Shamil Khakimov, a Jehovah’s Witness arrested in 2019 on charges of incitement to religious hatred, was not allowed to attend his son’s funeral in September 2021 and remains in prison despite poor health. Another Jehovah’s Witness, Rustamjon Norov, was released on 21 September 2021 thanks to a presidential pardon. He had been sentenced in early 2021 to three more years in prison for refusing to perform his military service.
In June 2021, lawyers representing Uyghur groups submitted a dossier to the International Criminal Court in The Hague accusing the Tajik government of collaboration with China, allowing Chinese officials to seize and repatriate Chinese Uyghurs who had sought refuge in the former Soviet republic.
Prospects for religious freedom
Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia. Over the past years, it has faced economic challenges, terrorist attacks, and ever-present fears of internal and foreign based extremism, which the government has met by redoubling repressive laws and increasing restrictions on religious freedom. The Taliban's victory in neighbouring Afghanistan has intensified fears of extremist overspill and provided even greater reason to tighten controls. With the current level of constraint exerted on almost all expressions of religiosity, respect for religious freedom is not expected to improve in the short term especially for those considered “non-traditional” religions.
Tajikistan