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The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch called on the Tajik authorities to urgently restore the Internet in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and called the detention of Amriddin Alovatshoev illegal.

“The closure of communications in GBAO not only violates the right to freedom of expression, but also makes life difficult and even dangerous for the entire population. The Tajik authorities must restore access to the Internet without further delay,” Human Rights Watch’s Central Asia researcher Syinat Sultanalieva said in a statement. 

The organization notes that on November 25, when protests erupted in Khorog over the death of a local resident, central authorities cut off access to mobile data and most of the fixed Internet access in Khorog, and later Internet access was closed in the rest of the region. 

Despite the fact that the authorities promised that after the dissolution of the rally they would restore the Internet connection, after 2 months this did not happen and the Internet is available only to employees of some state institutions, including law enforcement agencies and banks.