Watchdog

Khadija Ismayilova, a jailed Azerbaijani investigative journalist and contributor to RFE/RL, has won a prestigious media freedom award that commemorates slain Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya.

Ismayilova will be honored with the Swedish National Press Club’s Freedom of Speech award for 2015 at a ceremony in Stockholm on April 27.

"Khadija Ismayilova has shown great courage in exposing corruption at the highest level in Azerbaijan," the press club said in a statement.

She will be awarded for "tenacious investigative reporting and extraordinary bravery."

Ismayilova was arrested on December 5 on suspicion of inciting a man to attempt suicide.

In February, new charges were brought against her alleging tax evasion, illegal business activities, and abuse of power.

She denies wrongdoing and says all the charges are politically motivated.

Her jailing has been widely condemned by international rights groups as part of a campaign by President Ilham Aliyev's government to silence dissent.

The PEN American Center will also honor Ismayilova with a media freedom award on May 5.

DUSHANBE -- Two Tajik police officers have been reprimanded for forcing Muslims to shave their beards, and have been warned of harsher consequences if complaints by Muslims continue.

Deputy Interior Minister Ikrom Umarzoda told RFE/RL on April 27 that two law enforcement officers in the northern Sughd region were officially rebuked after local residents complained that they were forced to shave their beards.

"We have ordered regional police departments to talk to local residents about extremism, but have never called on them to work with people through force and pressure," Umarzoda said.

There have been increasing reports of police officers' pressuring Muslims across the country to shave their beards.

Amid reports of hundreds of young Tajiks traveling to Syria and Iraq to fight along with Islamic militants, President Emomali Rahmon's government has repeatedly called for the strengthening of secular principles in the mostly Muslim country of 8.5 million.

Tajikistan has banned headscarves for schoolgirls, barred minors from mosques, and forced thousands of students to return home from Islamic schools abroad in recent months amid reports that many Tajiks have joined militants in Iraq and Syria.