Sarvinoz Ruhulloh is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Tajik Service.
Barotali Mirzoev says his son told the family two days before the Crocus City Hall attack near Moscow that he was returning home to Tajikistan. Dalerjon Mirzoev is one of four Tajik men accused of carrying out the attack on March 22 in which 144 people were killed.
For Afghan women struggling with the pressures of living in Tajikistan as refugees, the Ariana Learning Center is a source of hope and healing. Located in the city of Vahdat, some 20 kilometers east of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, the center offers training courses and provides counseling.
Suicides among young housewives have been a growing trend in Tajikistan in recent years, with economic problems compounding often suffocating relations with their in-laws. Ruzigul Mahmadsaid's disappearance from her in-laws' home stoked fears that the 22-year-old was the latest to take her own life.
A court in Dushanbe has sentenced noted Tajik journalist Zavqibek Saidamini to seven years in prison on charges of cooperating with two banned opposition groups, the latest in a series of cases being brought against media members that rights groups say are politically motivated.
A noted Tajik blogger Daleri Imomali, who is known for writing articles that have been critical of the government, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges human rights organizations call unfounded.
In an effort to rein in prostitution, Tajikistan has drafted legislation to punish pimps and brothel owners by terminating their parental rights. Critics say the way to reduce prostitution is to create legal employment for the women, many of whom became sex workers out of extreme poverty.
People are lining up outside pharmacies in Central Asian countries, only to find a lack of medicines, rising drug prices, and little help from the government.
Many Muslims in Central Asia save cash for years and wait their turn in a strict quota system to perform the hajj pilgrimage that all able Muslims are required to make once in their lives. But the hajj for everyone living outside of Saudi Arabia has been called off due to the coronavirus, leaving many wondering whether to wait until next year or to donate the money.
A Tajik migrant was given special permission to return to Russia -- despite the strict lockdown -- after his wife died in the hospital and left four children behind, including a newborn. The man had been stuck in Tajikistan since March when he came to visit his parents.
Ruhshona Akhmedova and Zarnigor Sangova were cautiously introduced last month by doctors from a Tajik organ-transplant center. They hit it off immediately. They had to.
A Tajik bride at the center of a virginity dispute says she is enrolling at a police academy to help other women in similar situations.
Tajik officials say they have noticed an uptick in the number of applications for marriage licenses just before a law banning cousin marriages comes into effect.
