A/HRC/55/51/Add.2 68. Simply put, there has recently been a major crackdown on human rights defenders and independent journalists and the so-called voluntary self-liquidation of many civil society organizations, many of them, if not most, connected with Pamiri grievances or the defence of their rights. 69. The Special Rapporteur was also informed of other steps taken by the authorities against humanitarian and development entities related to the Aga Khan Foundation and associated with the Pamiri, who are mainly members of the Ismaili community and recognize the Aga Khan as their spiritual leader. In May 2023, the authorities suspended the license of the Aga Khan Lycée, a private school in Khorog, and transferred it to the Department of Education for its use as a State school. Other private properties seized by the State authorities include the Aga Khan Medical Centre, also in Khorog, a $25 million facility opened in 2018, on the very same day that the Special Rapporteur arrived to begin his country mission to Tajikistan. The State authorities have similarly taken legal steps to seize the private University of Central Asia, another initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation. For members of the Pamiri minority in the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province, such measures are clear examples of the discriminatory treatment by the State authorities, dating back to the civil war, to punish the Pamiri and their perceived disloyalty to the current regime and of the Government’s concern about possible separatist sentiments and the loyalty of the local population to the Aga Khan. 70. The Special Rapporteur also met and spoke online with many Pamiri who had fled the country following the violent events of 2021 and 2022, in addition to a few remaining in the country, who described the threats and abuse, torture and other atrocities committed, particularly in 2022. Their identities are being withheld by the Special Rapporteur for fear of reprisals. What they universally described was an environment of brutality, repression and intimidation, especially since 2021, which belies the commitments of Tajikistan towards a greater respect for and the implementation of international human rights obligations. The Special Rapporteur also heard that some Pamiri were executed by the Tajik special forces in May 2022. 71. To protect the identity of those who shared the information and their family members, the Special Rapporteur will refer to only one well-known public case to illustrate the nature of the repression that members of the Pamiri minority have experienced and how they appear to be particularly targeted and vulnerable to the negation of their most basic human rights. 72. Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva, a widely respected 66-year-old journalist was sentenced last year to 21 years in prison on charges of incitement to overthrow the Government. Her brother, Khursand, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and her ex-husband, Kholbash Kholbashev, was given a life sentence on similar charges, with both of them also charged with being leading figures behind the turbulence in May 2022 in the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province. They were sentenced largely on the basis of confessions, which the Special Rapporteur heard were made following abuse and threats to their families. He was unable to obtain any response from the State authorities regarding those claims.24 73. Similarly, in 2022, Faromuz Irgashev, a 32-year-old Pamiri lawyer, who attempted unsuccessfully to run in the 2020 presidential election, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was initially part of efforts in early 2022 to mediate the tension between Pamiri protestors and the State, leading to the creation of a 44-person commission, supported by the local authorities, involving all sides of the unrest to investigate the root of the tensions. By the end of May 2022, however, 10 members of the commission had been charged with allegedly forming a criminal consortium. 74. Information received regarding other procedures suggests that fair trial standards have been grossly violated in cases involving human rights defenders, journalists and others, such as Zavqibek Saidamini, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda and Khushom Guliam, who were subjected to enforced disappearance, or Daler Imomali and Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva, as 24 GE.24-00946 See communications TJK 3/2022 and TJK 1/2023. 15