‘He just vanished’ − missing activists highlight Tajikistan’s disturbing use of enforced disappearances
- Written by Steve Swerdlow, Associate Professor of the Practice of Political Science and International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
“He just vanished; left his apartment for a meeting and disappeared. We’ve checked all the police stations, jails, the hospital and migration centers. We don’t know what to do.”
These were the words Tajik opposition leader Suhrob Zafar uttered to me in late February 2023, days after Nasimjon Sharipov, his colleague in the po...