IT WAS always dangerous to be a journalist or government critic in Tajikistan. But, until recently, the predatory and paranoid regime of Emomali Rakhmon, the president, left graduate students alone. That changed June 16th when Alexander Sodiqov, a Tajik political science student in Canada who is employed by Britain’s University of Exeter, was detained by the secret police (still known colloquially as the KGB). He is being held incommunicado, but was reportedly charged with treason for interviewing an opposition leader shortly after meeting the British ambassador at a party. He faces 20 years in jail. Colleagues and rights activists have called the allegations farcical.  Mr Sodiqov, 31, was detained in the restive eastern mountainous region of Gorno-Badakhshan while researching conflict resolution and civil society. The sparsely populated region is home to minority Pamiri ethnic groups marginalised by the nationalistic Mr Rakhmon in the far-off capital, Dushanbe. It is also awash with Afghan narcotics from across the long, porous border.  In 2012 government troops tried to unseat local warlords, leaving dozens dead in what looked more like a turf battle than the anti-narcotics operation authorities claimed it to be. Last month violence flared again after a midday shootout between police and alleged drug dealers. In response rampaging locals torched government buildings, demanding a stop to the violence.  Known formally as the GKNB, the security service is the state’s principal tool for political repression and has tried to thwart inquiries, preventing, for example, the British ambassador from meeting local activists this month. YouTube has been blocked for weeks, supposedly for hosting inflammatory videos. Mr Sodiqov’s "arrest looks like another effort by the government to blame outside forces for Tajikistan's internal problems," says Susan Corke of Freedom House.  There is compelling evidence to suggest the GKNB controls much of the country’s lucrative narcotics trade. Yet the unaccountable body has been financed by the United States, which annually spends millions of dollars training and equipping the secret police to fight drugs and potential spillover from Afghanistan. The United States has spent over $200m on Tajikistan’s security forces since 2001, according to the Center for International Policy, an American NGO that tracks such things through a project called Security Assistance Monitor. That is supposed to buy an ally in a tricky neighbourhood, not more instability.  “Our authorities find it easier to concoct mysterious foreign plots than address the numerous social problems in the region,” says Ravshan Abdullaev, the director of the Eurasia Foundation’s Dushanbe office, of Mr Sodiqov’s arrest. “The allegations are absurd and show how out-of-touch our authorities are.”  The treason charge, which will be difficult for authorities to walk back without losing face, is a stark warning. One local journalist compared the atmosphere to Stalin’s terror: “It’s horrifying. Any of us could find ourselves in this situation.”  Self-censorship may be the goal. The Rakhmon regime looks to Russia for inspiration and appears emboldened by the Kremlin’s effective persecution of free thinkers. Immediately after Mr Sodiqov’s arrest, the security chief said foreign governments are collaborating with NGOs and “organised crime” to destabilise Tajikistan. Parliament has proposed tightening already strict laws on public protest.  For bosses in the security service, Mr Sodiqov’s brief meeting at a reception with the British ambassador—arguably the most open and affable diplomat in town—was apparently enough to claim a British conspiracy. That is implausible. Western governments are terrified of another failed state in Central Asia and worry poorly governed Tajikistan could easily head down that road. But the Tajik government's refusal to allow questions in Gorno-Badakhshan, so vividly highlighted by Mr Sodiqov’s detention, is breeding domestic resentment. The problems Tajikistan faces come from within, not from a phantom external plot.
The case of a scholar detained in Tajikistan and reportedly charged with treason highlights the predatory and paranoid nature of President Emomali Rakhmon's regime