Some 30 men detained in Dushanbe because of their beards
Shuhrat Shodiyev, a freelance journalist collaborating with the Asia-Plus newspaper, was detained Saturday morning in Dushanbe for his beard and taken to police station in Dushanbe’s Sino district for questioning. He was released in one and half hours due to assistance of the newspaper lawyer. According to Shuhrat Shodiyev, there were some other 30 beard wearing men in the police station. “Police officers photographed us and took our fingerprints,” said he, “They also took our addresses”. Asked about the reason for detention, the officer on duty said that the raid was made by order of the interior ministry leadership, Shuhrat Shodiyev said. It is not known whether such raids were also made in other districts of the city or not. We will recall that Russia’s news agency, Rosbalt, on December 20, 2010 cited Ferghana.ru as saying that according to report by BBC’s Tajik Service the resident of Khatlon province Sanginmahmad Mirzoyev was taken off a flight to Russia because of his bushy beard. According to some media, men below the age 50 are reportedly being discouraged from growing beards as one of precautionary measures to prevent extremism. Tajik law enforcement authorities, however deny the claims, noting that no one has been detained or questioned for merely growing a beard. Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov told reporters in Dushanbe in October that the law enforcement authorities just ask bearded men to replace photographs in their ID cards so that the law enforcement authorities could identify them. Meanwhile, Tohir Normatov, the chief of the Interior Ministry staff, told Asia-Plus on Saturday that they have the right to detain persons to identify them. “Person who wears beard must have a beard in his passport and other ID cards (driving license) photos as well,” said Normatov, “If there is difference between person’s face and his document photo, the law enforcement officers have the right to detain him for identification”... Asia Plus