Details 0f most recent deadly Tajik Prison Riot, 30 killed
It was the second prison riot in the last six months, and the authorities once again blamed Islamic radicals within the 1,500 capacity facility for the violence.
Three prison guards and 29 inmates have been killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan that the government blamed on Islamic State militants. The riot started late on Sunday, May 18, by militants armed with knives in Vakhdat prison, 10km east of the capital Dushanbe.
Tajikistan’s justice ministry said the riot broke out late on Sunday in the prison in the city of Vakhdat, as militants armed with knives killed three guards and five fellow prisoners.
The militants then torched the prison hospital, took several inmates hostage and tried to fight their way out. Security forces killed 24 militants in the battle to restore order in the prison, the ministry said. The prison houses 1,500 inmates.
Among prisoners who were killed were Said Kiyomiddin and Makhsumi Sattor, both senior activists with the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) of Tajikistan, an Islamist party outlawed by the government of President Emomali Rahman in 2015. Another was a prominent Tajik Sufi cleric Saidmahdikhon Sattorov, convicted on charges of calls to overthrow the government.
It was the second prison riot in the last six months, and the authorities once again blamed Islamic radicals within the 1,500 capacity facility for the violence. The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that a criminal investigation had been opened into the riot. The most recent other outbreak of serious violence was in November 2018, when a riot in the Khujand prison led to 23 deaths, according to official data, although some media outlets reported more victims.
According to a prison service statement, the riot was organized by 30 inmates affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) movement.
A group of inmates “armed with knives and other bladed articles took three guards hostage, killed them and tried to fight their way out,” the statement continued, adding that “strict measures” were taken to stop the riot.
The authorities subsequently said that the instigator had been Bekhruz Gulmurod, the son of fugitive special police unit colonel Gulmurod Khalimov who joined Islamic State in 2015.
Makhsumi Sattor’s son Abdurakhim told the Radio Liberty, that during their last meeting his father had mentioned disputes with the followers of various groups within the facility.
