On 16 July 2014, Alex Sodiqov has been detained without charge for a month.  He faces a ‘secret’ legal process and investigation on suspicion of espionage and high treason for merely conducting academic research.  We have been assured that this will be secret and that it may end with his release.  Please write to the Government of Tajikistan asking them to conduct the investigation fairly and swiftly.  Below is a model letter you may use:

Dear Mr President,

Dear Mr Foreign Minister,

Alex Sodiqov has been detained without charge for almost a month and faces a ‘secret’ legal process and investigation.   Government officials have declared that the process will be ‘objective’ and Mr Sodiqov is assumed innocent.

The evidence that Alex Sodiqov is a scholar working for a UK university and doing a PhD degree in Canada is public and clear.  Please conclude the investigation and free Mr Sodiqov.

Mr Sodiqov is a young man with a young family.  He was one of the brightest graduates from Russian-Tajik Slavonic University and has served the country on the area of children’s health through his work with UNICEF.

Please also be aware of the strength of public feeling across the world and the media attention his detention has gained via articles in The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, the Economist and the Times.  His continued detention will make it very difficult for Western governments to support Tajikistan in its economic development objectives.  Why should these countries support Tajikistan when they are implicitly accused of spying?

The continued detention of Mr Sodiqov is a tragedy for Mr Sodqiov and his family and risks damaging Tajikistan’s reputation in the eyes of the world.

Please release Alexander Sodiqov!

Yours truly,

Please send this letter to the following emails:

info@mfa.tj; mail@president.tj

Thank you!

For more information see:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR60/004/2014/en

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/19/tajikistan-free-or-charge-researcher

http://www.pen-international.org/newsitems/tajikistan-blogger-and-academic-alexander-sodiqov-reportedly-charged-with-treason/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/19/fears-grow-for-canadian-researcher-arrested-in-tajikistan

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/06/studying-tajikistan-turns-dangerous