The last time I spoke to Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, she told me she was not worried for herself.
Mamadshoeva, 65, had been accused of conspiring against the Tajik state and organising a street protest in the country’s Gorno-Badakshan autonomous region (GBAO) in mid-May. She strongly denied the allegations.
We had arranged to talk via Telegram so she could connect me with witnesses to the unrest in GBAO’s capital Khorog. We never got the chance. Tajikistan’s interior ministry put out a notice alleging that she had personally masterminded the protests, alongside the well-known Tajik opposition leader Alim Sherzamonov – and Mamadshoeva was detained hours later in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
