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The case of Sitoramo Ibrohimova, wife of Tajik asylum seeker Murodali Halimov, has been heard in Belgium. At the request of the authorities, the court decided to halt the deportation of Ibrohimova to Tajikistan.
Halimov was detained in Ukraine in 2019 before being extradited back to Tajikistan, where he faces terrorism charges that bear the hallmarks of political persecution. Sitoramo Ibrohimova is the last of the adult members of Murodali Halimov's family who has been able to remain in Europe. The Tajik authorities succeeded in bringing the others back to their home country and imprisoning them there.
The last to be deported to Tajikistan were Ibrohimova’s sister, Nigora Saidova, along with her husband. Polish authorities expelled them at the request of Tajikistan, which claimed that they were members of an ISIS cell. Along with Nigora Saidova, Poland expelled her seven-month-old daughter, who was born in a Polish detention center. In its investigation, The Insider, together with the Polish publication Polityka, proved that accusations against Nigora were falsified, and that the Polish judiciary took their Tajik counterparts’ word about the charges without conducting a proper review of the evidence.
In its decision on the fate of Sitoramo Ibrohimova, the Belgian court noted that the materials provided by Tajikistan did not provide sufficient evidence to warrant such a serious charge as association with ISIS. In addition, the court emphasized that there is no bilateral extradition treaty between Belgium and Tajikistan, and that Belgian officials have no basis for enforcing the position of Tajik authorities based on allegations alone. Thus, Sitoramo has been allowed to remain in the country. In addition to her own four children, she takes care of her sister Nigora's two daughters, who have had no contact with their mother since her placement in a women's colony in Norak, Tajikistan.
Leila Nazgul Seiitbek, head of the non-governmental organization Freedom for Eurasia, told The Insider that the Belgian court's decision in Sitoramo’s case was based on procedural shortcomings rather than the practice of human rights violations in Tajikistan:
“The reluctance of the Belgian judge to make a decision based on the poor human rights situation in Tajikistan may be due to their poor understanding of the country context. And this poor understanding is, unfortunately, ubiquitous in the judiciary and refugee authorities across Europe. Poor judgment of the situation by state authorities leads to erroneous conclusions, which in turn lengthens the process for refugees and requires more resources, both on the part of refugees to defend themselves and on the part of government agencies. It creates an additional burden on the judiciary because they are swamped with cases and, due to the heavy caseload, often fail to adequately examine cases. If migration officers were properly informed about Central Asian countries, there would be no need to pursue these disputes in the courts.”
Murodali Halimov, Sitoramo Ibrohimova's husband, has been accused by Tajik authorities of being a member of Jamaat Ansarullah, an armed opposition group seeking to overthrow Emomali Rahmon's regime. Dushanbe sought his extradition from Ukraine once he arrived there after living in Egypt and Turkey. However, the Ukrainian authorities considered the evidence presented against Halimov insufficient for his expulsion from the country. Tajik security officials then changed the charge, claiming that Halimov was an ISIS terrorist despite the two groups being at odds with each other. The second attempt to secure his extradition was successful, and his relatives were subsequently deported as well.
In Belgium, Sitoramo Ibrohimova's interests were defended by local lawyers and the human rights organization Freedom for Eurasia, which assisted The Insider and Polityka in their investigation of her family's case. You can read more about this story here.