Helping a Tajik family reunite and relocate.

Friends,

I am asking for funding to help save the lives of several members of an ethnic minority family in Tajikistan. The need is great, the time is short, and the story of this family is not for the faint of heart. For simply sharing their opinions, the Tajik government has abducted and detained a father while arresting, jailing, and torturing his sons; even some of those who are not formally charged still have gone through physical abuse. This family needs our help.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Tajikistan is a country in central Asia, bordered by Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China. It once was under Soviet Union control, though it gained independence in the 1990s, and is considered a pro-Kremlin regime. Recently, conditions in Tajikistan have gotten a lot worse for its people –particularly for some cultural and linguistic minority groups. No public criticism of Tajikistan’s extremely authoritarian regime is tolerated. All direct protest is severely suppressed. (See here for example.) The government appears to be escalating its targeting of one minority group, killing at least 25 people during protests in May. (See more here.)

Right now, the conditions in Tajikistan are such that naming this minority group family, or even naming their family member outside Tajikistan trying to help, would be dangerous. I am writing on behalf of this close family friend as they try desperately to help their loved ones without endangering anyone.

A little more about the Tajik family: The father and his sons were outspoken against the government’s authoritarian rule, as many other people living in the GBAO. As a result, the father was recently abducted and has not been released. His two sons are also detained – in two different locations – separated by about a 12-hour drive over mountainous terrain. There are no flights operating between those regions right now so their mom with her other minor child have had to traverse the mountains to see the sons/brothers/father and to bring them food (the conditions in Tajik jails are so bad that incarcerated people often do not receive adequate food).

The detained father and sons are not safe physically or emotionally, and they are still facing criminal charges. During their incarceration, they were tortured – evidence of which is still evident such as the cigarette burns all over the body on one of them. They have been struggling emotionally as they process this trauma and, honestly, the dark prospect of their likely future in Tajikistan. Given how badly they have been doing, funds raised will be prioritized to help at least one of the sons, in order to alleviate the burden for the mother while she is trying to navigate this truly difficult situation by herself. At the present time, the mostly legal fees (and a fraction of logistical and travel needs) for that son, amount to $9,000 US dollars.

To make matters more difficult, the government has seized the family’s businesses and most of their properties. The mom is selling an apartment, car, and personal items such as jewelry to pay for the rest of the mounting expenses. She cannot do this alone, nor can their family outside of the country cover all the related costs.

If more funds are raised, they will go to help pay for the legal fees of the other affected sons and the father, with the hope of also helping them to leave the country. While it is unlikely that the government will release the father, additional funding could help reduce his potential sentence significantly. Finally, the long-term hope is to raise enough funds to support the legal immigration of the whole family (mom, dad and their children) from Tajikistan to a European country or the US.