Tajikistan: Investigate Attack on Opposition Leader

(Dushanbe, April 21, 2013) – Tajik authorities should promptly and thoroughly investigate the brutal beating of an opposition leader, Human Rights Watch said. Mahmadali Hayit, deputy head of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the country’s largest opposition party, was attacked in the evening of April 19, 2013, outside his home.
The investigation should be thorough and comprehensive, and Tajik authorities should ensure that members of the IRPT and other opposition parties are able to exercise their freedom of expression, association, and assembly without interference in the lead-up to the November 2013 presidential elections.