German authorities are poised to deport a Tajik opposition activist who Human Rights Watch says would be at risk of detention and torture if returned to Tajikistan.
On October 28, a court in Kleve, Germany reportedly ordered the deportation of Dilmurod Ergashev by early November. Ergashev is an activist with Group 24, an opposition movement that has been banned in Tajikistan since 2014.
According to RFE/RL, citing Ergashev’s lawyer, German immigration authorities have “expressed doubts about the sincerity of Ergashev’s commitment to opposition causes.”
In a November 1 statement, Marius Fossum of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human rights-focused NGO, characterized Ergashev’s participation in opposition activities as “active and visible.”
… [H]e has taken part in numerous peaceful public protests, including demonstrations held in Berlin outside the Tajik embassy in April 2015, December 10, 2018, and September 28–29, 2023, as well as in other German cities. He has remained an outspoken critic of Tajik president Emomali Rahmon’s regime, regularly using social media to share criticism of Tajik authorities and information about human rights violations in Tajikistan; to advocate for democratic principles, and to promote human rights. These activities mark him as a target for Tajik authorities who have been regularly retaliating against, imprisoning on politically motivated grounds, exposing to torture and other ill-treatment and otherwise persecuting peaceful critics en masse during the last ten years.
Ergashev first applied for asylum in Germany in February 2011. His applications have been denied, but according to Fossum – citing other Tajik activists – Ergashev has a political asylum application pending review by an administrative court in Düsseldorf.
Over the last decade, Tajikistan has pursued Group 24 activists around the world. Tajik authorities have kidnapped activists from countries friendly with the regime, such as Russia and Turkey.
In February and March of this year, a pair of Group 24 activists, including the group’s leader, vanished in Turkiye and turned up, months later, in custody in Tajikistan. In late October, Group 24’s leader Sohrab Zafar and another member of the opposition movement, Nasimjon Sharifov, were sentenced to 30 and 20 years in prison, respectively.
In 2015, Group 24’s founder was assassinated in Istanbul.
Group 24’s ban was followed by the 2015 banning of the once-legal opposition political party, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT). In the wake of Tajikistan’s crackdown on opposition political forces – great and small alike – opposition activists fled Tajikistan, many to Russia and then onward to Europe.
But Europe is no safe haven either. Increasing anti-immigrant sentiment has led to a tightening of migration regulations and enforcement. This pairs with pervasive ignorance about the conditions in Central Asia, and perceptions of Muslims, and therefore also Central Asians, as threats in the wake of terrorist attacks such as the Crocus City Hall incident in Russia.
The core tenet of the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Germany is a party, is the principle of non-refoulement. As stated in an introductory note to the convection and its 1967 protocol:
The principle of non-refoulement is so fundamental that no reservations or derogations may be made to it. It provides that no one shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee against his or her will, in any manner whatsoever, to a territory where he or she fears threats to life or freedom.
Nevertheless, Germany – and other European states – have deported several Tajik activists who have subsequently been jailed in Tajikistan on charges clearly related to their political activities.
In January 2023, Germany deported Shamsiddin Abdullohi, an activist associated with the IRPT. By late March, Abdullohi had been sentenced to seven years for “public calls to violent change of the constitutional order of Tajikistan” stemming from his IRPT membership.
Later in 2023, Group 24 activist Bilol Kurbonaliyev was detained in Germany and extradited to Tajikistan. He was sentenced to 10 years in April 2024 for “organizing a criminal community.” Kurbonaliyev had reportedly been in Germany since 2022 but did not have refugee status.