Alex Sodiqov

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Alexander Sodiqov
Born September 17, 1983
Panjakent, Tajikistan
Nationality Tajikistan
Occupation PhD Student
Known for Captured and accused of spying, by Tajikistan security officials

Alexander Sodiqov (Russian: Александр Cодиков; Tajik: Александр Содиқов) is a political science PhD student at the University of Toronto, who was apprehended by security officials in Tajikistan on June 16, 2014 and charged with treason and espionage.

Overview

Sodiqov was born in the town of Panjakent, in northern Tajikistan. He graduated from the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University with a degree in international relations and received a master's degree in conflict, development and security from the University of Leeds in 2008. Sodiqov worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and UNICEF, and lectured at the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. He also blogged at Tajikistan Monitor and served as Central Asia Editor at Global Voices Online. In 2011, Sodiqov was admitted to the PhD program in political science at the University of Toronto, Canada.[1][2][3]

Arrest and charges

He returned to Tajikistan with his wife and daughter in June 2014 to work on a research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council. Under this project, Sodiqov had a contract with the University of Exeter. The project was investigating "the failure of Western approaches to conflict management" in former Soviet republics.[4][5]

On June 15, Sodiqov traveled to Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in eastern Tajikistan, to interview a number of civil society representatives. There had been an outbreak of violence in Khorog in 2012, that was the subject of the study Sodiqov worked on. On June 16, he was apprehended by security officials during an interview with Alim Sherzamonov, the head of the local branch of the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT), in Khorog. The next day he was transported to the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) office in Dushanbe.[6][7][8]

On June 17, 2014, the SCNS issued a statement, claiming that Sodiqov had been detained for collecting information that "undermined national security". The SCNS alleged that Sodiqov was working for an unnamed "foreign intelligence service".[9][10][11] Within the next several days, Sodiqov appeared at least twice on national television. The heavily edited video aimed at discrediting both him and the opposition politician he had been meeting at the time of his apprehension.[12][13]

Following Sodiqov's detention, the project he had been working on, the University of Exeter, University of Toronto, and UK Economic and Social Research Council made statements confirming that Sodiqov was a scholar under a research contract with the University of Exeter, rather than a spy. They also confirmed that the purpose of Sodiqov's trip to Khorog had been purely academic.[14][15][16]

Despite these reassurances, the SCNS formally charged Sodiqov under Article 305 of Tajikistan's Criminal Code ("High Treason"), which carries a prison sentence of between 12 and 20 years.[17] He was placed in the SCNS pre-trial detention centre on 19 June 2014[18] and his case was classified as "top secret".[19]

International pressure and release

Sodiqov's arrest on espionage and treason charges generated international outcry, with many rights groups and watchdogs calling for information, fair treatment and his release. Within days after the scholar was detained, the British ambassador to Tajikistan, the European Union delegation to the country, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media expressed concern about the detention of the scholar and the charges laid against him.[20][21][22] Freedom House demanded immediate information about where and why the scholar was held by the authorities.[23] Human Rights Watch called on Tajikistan to present credible evidence against the scholar or release him immediately.[24] Amnesty International called Sodiqov a "prisoner of conscience" and claimed that charges laid against him were "politically motivated".[25] Reporters Without Borders called for Sodiqov's immediate release, describing charges laid against him as "absurd".[26] The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), PEN International, and a coalition of over 60 human rights NGOs from across the OSCE region also condemned Sodiqov's arrest and demanded that Tajikistan release him.[27][28][29]

Academic institutions, societies, scholars, and academic freedom groups also organized a campaign to pressure Tajikistan into releasing the scholar and dropping charges against him. The University of Toronto that Sodiqov was affiliated with expressed concern about Sodiqov's detention and requested that Tajikistan resolve the matter with his detention.[30] The department of political science at McGill University issued a similar statement.[31] A number of petitions demanding Sodiqov's release, including one organized by Tajikistani students and alumni of foreign universities and one organized by a group of "concerned scholars," were circulating online.[32][33] The scholar's academic supervisor and other graduate students at the University of Toronto set up a website, www.freealexsodiqov.org, and used social media to disseminate information about Sodiqov's cause, using the hashtag #freealexsodiqov.[34] The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) called on Tajikistan to "immediately release" Sodiqov.[35] Scholars at Risk, an international group comprising over 300 academic institutions in 36 countries, sent a letter to Tajikistan's foreign minister, requesting that the scholar is released.[36] On 23 June 2014, four academic societies (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Association for the Study of Nationalities; Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS); and European Society for Central Asian Studies) representing about 4,500 scholars of Eurasia expressed "strong concern" over Sodiqov's detention and asked the head of Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security to release him.[37] In July 2014, a broader statement from 20 scholarly societies encompassing over 60,000 academics called for Sodiqov's release.[38] Several French and Swiss academic societies supported the statement.[39][40][41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Alexander Sodiqov. Linkedin. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  2. ↑ About. Tajikistan Monitor. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Mariya Yanovskaya. "Нашли шпиона. Таджикские спецслужбы показывают класс [They got a spy. Tajik security services show their worth]". Fergana News, 2014-06-19. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "Statement by Dr John Heathershaw regarding detention of Alexander Sodiqov in Khorog", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  5. ↑ "Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia: Project Details". Retrieved 2014-07-31
  6. ↑ "Правоохранители ГБАО прервали встречу западного конфликтолога с гражданским обществом Хорога [Security agencies in GBAO did not let a western scholar meet with civil society in Khorog" (in Russian), Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  7. ↑ "Authorities Detain Tajik Researcher, Whereabouts Uncertain", EurasiaNet, 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ "УГКНБ по ГБАО: Александр Содиков вел диверсионно-разведывательную работу [SCNS in GBAO: Alexander Sodiqov was involved in subversion and espionage" Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ "Александр Содиков появился в эфире хорогского ТВ [Alexander Sodiqov appeared on Khorog TV" (in Russian), Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  14. ↑ "Statement by Dr John Heathershaw regarding detention of Alexander Sodiqov in Khorog", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  15. ↑ "University of Exeter makes statement regarding detention of Alexander Sodiqov in Khorog", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  16. ↑ "ESRC makes statement regarding detention of Alexander Sodiqov", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  17. ↑ John Heathershaw. "Consequences of the detention of Alexander Sodiqov". Open Democracy, 22 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-29
  18. ↑ "Александр Содиков переведен в СИЗО ГКНБ в Душанбе (Alexander Sodiqov transferred to SIZO GKNB in Dushanbe)", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  19. ↑ "На дело Содикова наложен гриф «секретно» (Sodiqov's case classified top secret)", Asia-Plus (Dushanbe), 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ "Tajikistan Must Shed Light on Disappearance of Researcher". Freedom House, 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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External links

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