Watchdog

Tajik authorities said they are investigating the severe beating of a Tajik journalist and political activist.

The attack on Daler Sharifov, a moderator on a popular talk show on Tajikistan’s state TV channel, "Safina," occurred late on the evening of May 7.

RFE/RL's Tajik Service met with Sharifov and his relatives in a hospital in the capital, Dushanbe, where he is receiving treatment.

Sharifov's friend, who did not reveal his name, said one unknown man restrained him while the other attacked Sharifov.

Last week, in an interview with RFE/RL, Sharifov said he and his followers had created a movement called Qadam ba Qadam, or Step by Step.

He said the aim of the movement, which has not been officially registered, was to counter Tajikistan's regional and tribal politics, which he said was the source of all the country’s problems.

Two leading human rights groups have condemned a nine-year prison sentence upheld by a Tehran court for prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.

Dadkhah also received a 10-year ban on practicing law.

Dadkhah, who has defended a number of political prisoners in Iran, including a Christian pastor on death row for apostasy, is a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), along with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi.

Amnesty International has called on Iran to repeal Dadkhah's sentence, which they called "another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression and association in Iran."

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders said Iran should drop the charges and release four other DRHC members jailed in Iran.