Khurshed Fozilov
Khurshed Fozilov is an independent journalist and a human rights defender. He cooperated with several independent media outlets, including media outlet Akhbor, an independent news website covering Tajikistan, neighboring central Asian countries and issues involving migrant workers in Russia. Khurshed Fozilov often covers social issues and problems faced by ordinary people in Zarafshan Valley, frequently criticizing local government for the lack of accountability.
Human rights defenders in Tajikistan work in conditions of long-term unchanged political power and absence of political pluralism. In 2015 the Islamic party of Tajikistan was banned as a terrorist organisation and 20 of its members were arrested. The same year three human rights lawyers who tried to provide legal assistance to the arrested members of the party were arrested on the trumped-up charges of fraud, that had been used previously on many occasions to silence the lawyers and human rights defenders working on sensitive cases.
