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On 3 August, days after the secret police arrested him, Badakhshan Regional Court jailed Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a respected 58-year-old Ismaili religious leader, for 5 years for alleged "public calls for extremist activity". "Davlatmirov is not an extremist, and did not call for 'extremist' activity," a local person who knows him told Forum 18. His relatives and friends do not know where he is serving his sentence. The regime has closed all Ismaili prayer houses in the region and the Ismaili Education Centre in Khorugh.

The secret police arrested Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a 58-year-old Ismaili religious leader in Khorugh, on 26 July. Just eight days later, on 3 August, Badakhshan Regional Court handed him a five-year prison sentence under Criminal Code Article 307-1 ("Public calls for extremist activity"), Part 2 ("committed using the mass media or the internet"). The possible punishments are between five and 10 years jail. This article has been used by the regime to target a variety of Muslims.

"That Davlatmirov was arrested on 26 July and in early August given a prison sentence shows that the Court is a theatre," Independent journalist Anora Sarkorova commented to Forum 18 on 7 October. "The order came from the central authorities, and the Court had to sentence him quickly," she noted (see below).

Khorugh is the capital of the Mountainous Badakhshan Autonomous Region (also known from Russian as Gorno-Badakhshan). The region has seen increasing repression by the regime since a local resident was in November 2021 killed by security forces. As Bruce Pannier has observed on bne IntelliNews, the region has a history of independence from the regime and the Ismaili Aga Khan Foundation has played a large role in the region's development (see below).

"Davlatmirov was widely known and respected by the local Ismaili people," independent journalist Sarkorova told Forum 18. She noted that he had criticised the regime's religious policies, and argued for the preservation of local Pamiri traditions. Davlatmirov also, she stated, criticised the regime's violent suppression in May of peaceful protests (see below). The suppression of protest is claimed by the regime to be an "anti-terrorism operation."

Independent journalist Sarkarova commented that the regime did not like the fact that Davlatmirov was respected in the region, and that he could influence people. She thought it was possible that prisoner of conscience Davlatmirov was jailed because he said the janaza (funeral) prayers at the funeral in May of three local informal leaders killed during the regime's violent suppression of peaceful protests.

Mountainous Badakhshan regional government spokesperson Gholib Niyatbekov refused to comment when Forum 18 noted that prisoner of conscience Davlatmirov did not violate the law by praying at funerals.

Police Major Azamat Oshurmamadov, who commands "anti-terrorism" police operations in the region, Regional government spokesperson Niyatbekov, Judge Abdukhanon Nazarzoda of Badakhshan Regional Court, and a Supreme Court official who refused to give his name all refused to state what exactly Davlatmirov did that led to the five-year jail term (see below).

"Davlatmirov is not an extremist, and did not call for 'extremist' activity," a local person who knows him and wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals told Forum 18. Prisoner of conscience Davlatmirov's relatives and friends do not know where he is serving his prison sentence, violating Rule 68 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules – A/C.3/70/L.3) (see below).

As the regime violently suppressed peaceful protests in Mountainous Badakhshan in May, it also closed down all Ismaili prayer houses in the region and the Ismaili Education Centre (opened in 2018) in Khorugh.

The Ismaili branch of Shia Islam in Tajikistan is mainly found in Mountainous Badakhshan in south-eastern Tajikistan. Worldwide, the community is led by the Aga Khan. Ismaili centres are very important for the community, fulfilling a wide range of spiritual, educational, and cultural purposes (see below).

No official notification or reason given – including from the State Committee for Religious Affairs and Regulation of Traditions, Ceremonies and Rituals (SCRA) - for the closures or how long they will last. However the SCRA has announced that a group of "experts" will decide this. SCRA officials and a Supreme Court official who refused to give his name all refused to discuss the closures with Forum 18.

Regional government spokesperson Niyatbekov insisted to Forum 18 that no Ismaili prayer houses were closed, and the Education Centre in Khorugh was also not closed. "You have totally wrong information," he claimed, "Ismailis attend the prayer house [in Khorugh] day and night. It is always open". Both mosques and Protestant churches have been forcibly closed by the regime (see below).

It is unclear exactly whether the regime has any specific reason for increasingly targeting companies and organisations linked with the Aga Khan, or whether this is part of the regime's overall increasing repression within Mountainous Badakhshan. It is possible that the regime's hostility stems from its suspicion that Ismailis respect the Aga Khan more than Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled the country since 1992 without facing a free and fair election (see below).

The regime has also been continuing to implement its existing restrictions on Muslims exercising their freedom of religion or belief, as well as continuing to insist that non-Muslim communities provide detailed and intrusive information to the SCRA (see forthcoming F18News article).

Ismaili Muslim religious leader jailed for five years
The National Security Committee (NSC) secret police arrested Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a 58-year-old Ismaili religious leader in Khorugh, on 26 July.

Badakhshan Regional Court convicted him on 3 August, giving him a five-year general regime prison sentence under Criminal Code Article 307-1 ("Public calls for extremist activity"), Part 2 ("committed using the mass media or the internet"). The possible punishments are between five and 10 years jail.

"That Davlatmirov was arrested on 26 July and in early August given a prison sentence shows that the Court is a theatre," Independent journalist Anora Sarkorova commented to Forum 18 on 7 October. "The order came from the central authorities, and the Court had to sentence him quickly," she noted.

Swift trials in such circumstances are "a normal course of action in today's Tajikistan," Muhammadiqbol Sadriddin of the exiled isloh.net news website told Forum 18 the same day.

Khorugh is the capital of the Mountainous Badakhshan Autonomous Region (also known from Russian as Gorno-Badakhshan). The region has seen increasing repression by the regime since security forces killed a local resident in November 2021. As Bruce Pannier has observed on bne IntelliNews, the region has a history of independence from the regime and the Ismaili Aga Khan Foundation has played a large role in the region's development.