Author: Khorrahan

Moscow (28/2). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that non-governmental organizations in Central Asia have stepped up their anti-Russian activities amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Shoigu said this at the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense on February 27. According to him, there are more than 100 “large pro-Western non-governmental organisations” operating in Central Asia, which have more than 16,000 representative offices and branches. “Against the backdrop of the special military operation, these NGOs have significantly increased their anti-Russian activities in order to reduce military-technical, economic and cultural cooperation between the Central Asian states and Russia.…

Brussels (12/03 – 55.56) Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said that the dissolution of human rights NGOs signals a deteriorating environment for civil society and human rights defence in Tajikistan. She reiterated that Tajikistan must reconsider its attitudes towards civil society and view human rights defenders as allies instead of enemies. Earlier in November 2023, Tajikistan Minister of Justice announced that 700 NGOs in the country had been liquidated over an 18-month period. “Human rights defenders working on so-called sensitive issues, including freedom from torture, the right to housing and compensation for requisitioned land, minority rights, freedom of belief and good governance, political rights, and…

Madrid (10/03 – 21.43)Exorcism is a key source of income for Sabohiddin Shodiev, a popular cleric in his rural community on the outskirts of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Shodiev — not his real name — says that every week he treats about 15 clients who ask him to expel what they believe is an evil spirit, or jinni, possessing them, or to rid them from “an evil eye.”The 53-year-old cleric has been practicing exorcisms — which he learned to do from his father — for more than two decades. Most of Shodiev’s clients come from Dushanbe and nearby districts,…

Dushanbe 25/2 (35.71). The social networking activity of “influencer” Ismoil Mahmadzoir is causing a stir within the country’s political and security corridors. His grandfather President Emomali Rahmon is planning his succession, which has triggered quiet maneuvering within elite factions, including Mahmadzoir’s relatives. Nobody is clear about how becomes the next president of Tajikistan. The daughters jockeying for the top job besides the grandson.Video of a bland speech by Tajikistan’s long-time President Emomali Rahmon was posted late last month on Instagram by Buzkashi_1111, a handle created by Ismoil Mahmadzoir, the 25-year-old son of Firuza Emomali, one of the president’s daughters, who…

The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran has attracted significant attention from western policy makers, intellectuals and the media, especially over its growing influence in the Middle East post-2003. This scrutiny has intensified, in particular for the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, following the assassination of its commander, General Qasem Soleimani, in a targeted US drone strike in 2020, a year after the Trump administration designated the IRGC in its entirety as a terrorist organisation. Decades of oversight of the IRGC and the “lack of foundational understanding of Iran since 1979” has cost the US and its allies dearly, argues…

London (06/11 – 58) France and the United Kingdom (UK) have jointly made a request in favour of Sri Lanka to the court of the Southern District of New York, for a six-month freeze on any litigation in the Hamilton Reserve Bank case until Sri Lanka’s external debt restructuring is completed, the Financial Times reported. Accordingly, last week the two countries filed a joint “amicus curiae” to the New York judge hearing the case, arguing in favour of Sri Lanka’s request for a six-month freeze on any litigation. The co-signatories in their “amicus curiae” want the judge to grant Sri…

Despite support by the US and Germany for Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, the global opposition to the Israeli massacre in the blockaded enclave is getting harsher. Israel has, so far, killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, mostly children and women, as it continues its relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip. Around 6,000 people are unaccounted for, with more than 4,000 of them women and children. They are either buried under the rubble of demolished buildings or their bodies are lying on the streets without being identified. Israel has forced around 400,000 civilians to migrate from northern Gaza to…

‘Seven decades since his coup, and more than half a century since his death, the Arab peoples have scarcely begun to shake off the legacy of “Father” Gamal Abdel Nasser,’ as the sweeping regional history of Egypt’s former president concludes. Nasser was certainly an iconic figure whose persona shaped modern Egypt, but his influence went well beyond his country and extended across the Arab world, as well as across Africa. The history of Nasserism as non-Egyptians experienced it, is not fully appreciated enough and Alex Rowell’s new book We Are Your Soldiers: How Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser Remade the Arab World ambitiously aims…

Iraq said it is donating ten million litres of fuel to operate generators and keep hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip operational. During its regular session yesterday, the Iraqi Cabinet agreed to donate fuel to Gaza’s hospitals to “alleviate the suffering of our brothers from the Palestinian people and to show solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip,” a statement said. The statement, however, did not specify a date for the fuel shipments or how they would be allowed into the blockaded territory. On 4 November, Iraq announced that it was sending a third batch of humanitarian and relief aid…

Powerful Russian anti-ship missiles acquired by Hezbollah give it the means to deliver on its leader’s veiled threat against US warships and underline the grave risks of any regional war, sources familiar with the group’s arsenal say. Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned Washington last week his group had something in store for the US vessels deployed to the region since war erupted last month between the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel, shaking the wider Middle East. Two sources in Lebanon familiar with the group’s arsenal say he was referring to Hezbollah’s greatly enhanced anti-ship missile capabilities, including the Russian-made Yakhont missile with a range of 300 km (186 miles). Reports…