Tajikistan: Further restrictions on religious materials

Tajikistan | 02 May 2017

On 17 April 2017 Radio Free Europe reported that Tajikistan"s Culture Ministry had recently announced that no books were to be allowed in or out of the country without written permission. The requirement applies to travelers to and from all countries, regardless of the language‚ and number of books involved. Some observers believe these new restrictions are aimed at stopping the dissemination of extremist religious material with books written in languages like Farsi and Arabic falling under particular scrutiny. Tajikistan's Religious Affairs Committee and the Interior Ministry have compiled a blacklist of banned books, most of them religious in nature. In 2015, the country updated the list, adding 13 books alleged to be promoting the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam. Tajikistan's Supreme Court banned Salafism in 2009, deeming it a threat to the country's security and stability. The Quran and other Islamic books (such as those on prayer) are freely available in bookstores across the county. Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, believes that the new restrictions prove that the country is sliding more and more in the direction of dictatorship. President Rahmon"s government is seeking to increase its control over religious groups. The aim of the new measures may be to stop the dissemination of Islamist religious material, but Christians will doubtless‚ feel the effects too."