‘Tajikistan Mulls Prosecuting Rude Russian Reporter’

How rude.

“Tajikistan’s General Prosecutor is considering prosecution for a Russian journalist for ‘inciting ethnic hatred’ over an article that mocked the country and its president.

“Sergei Ponomaryov’s piece in Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda about a visit to Tajikistan was published last month and featured numerous crude stereotypes. The article has already led to the shuttering of the local edition of the newspaper, which had a circulation of 5,000 in Tajikistan.”

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/80021

Want to make hajj? Tajikistan imposes age restriction

“Tajikistan has banned the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, for citizens younger than 35.

“Many in the Central Asian nation believe the ban is an attempt to prevent young Tajiks from developing radical ideas and joining extremist groups such as ISIL.”

http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/157855/tajikistan-bans-hajj-pilgrimage-for-young-muslims

In secularization moves, “Tajikistan has banned headscarves for schoolgirls, barred minors from mosques, and forced thousands of students to return home from Islamic schools abroad in recent months amid reports that many Tajiks have joined fighters in Iraq and Syria.”

(Saudi Arabia cut Tajikistan’s quota of hajj visas from 8,000 to 6,300, which might indicate the Saudis are worried, too.)