U of T student returns to Canada after detention in Tajikistan
A University of Toronto student who was detained in his native Tajikistan has been released and has returned to Canada.(Twitter /@asodiqov)
CTV Toronto
Published Wednesday, October 1, 2014 8:30AM EDT
A University of Toronto student who was detained in his native Tajikistan has been released and has returned to Canada.
Alexander Sodiqov was detained on June 16, following a meeting with an activist in Khorog, the capital of the autonomous Tajik republic of Gorno-Badakhshan, Human Rights Watch said. A statement from the group in June, said he was being detained "on suspicion of spying for an unnamed country."
Sodiqov was eventually released from detention on July 23, and he was allowed to leave Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan on Sept. 9, according to a blog post on the "Free Alex Sodiqov" website posted three days later. It is unclear when he landed in Canada.
According to the website, Sodiqove was not subject to threats during his detention.
"Fortunately, we understand that Alex was well-treated whilst in detention between 16 June and 23 July 2014. It was understandably stressful to be subject to very serious and false allegation both for him and his family."
The website does not say where he was being held. It explains that the young father remains "formally under investigation" but that the charges he was facing have "effectively been dropped" and that the Tajik government has "informally recognized that Alex is innocent, even though the legal case formally remains open."
Sodiqov is political science PhD student at the University of Toronto. The school previously said that he was in Tajikistan "under a research contract with the University of Exeter." Sodiqov is also the Central Asia editor for Global Voices and runs the Tajikistan Monitor, a website that contains news and analysis about events in the landlocked Central country and the surrounding region.
U of T student accused of spying, detained in Tajikistan