Tajikistan decriminalises 'liking' social media posts deemed extremist
ALMATY (Reuters) - Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed a law on Wednesday removing criminal liability for "liking" posts on social media containing material that publicly calls for terrorism or other serious crimes, his press service said.
Official figures show more than 1,500 people have been jailed for liking and commenting on articles that the authorities consider extremist, including videos and posts by opposition figures.
Tajikistan is a landlocked country of some 10 million people sandwiched between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. Security officials there in recent months have been grappling with a string of militant attacks, some of whose perpetrators have professed support for Islamic State.
In 2018, Tajik lawmakers passed amendments criminalising public justification of terrorism online, and authorities soon began prosecuting people for liking or reacting with emojis to posts or videos found to be supporting extremism. Those found guilty could be sent to prison for up to 15 years.
Last year, Rakhmon, who has led Tajikistan since 1994, spoke out publicly against the prosecutions, saying they should be "put an end to", according to Tajik media.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
43 minutes ago
- New York Post
Russian drone and missile attacks kill 2 and wound 13 in Ukraine
Russia sent waves of drones and missiles in an attack on two Ukrainian cities early Tuesday that killed two people and wounded at least thirteen others, Ukrainian officials said. A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the center of the southern port city of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. Two people were killed and nine injured in the city, according to a statement from the regional prosecutor's office. Four people were injured in the attack on the capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Associated Press journalists heard explosions and the buzzing of drones around the city for hours. 3 An explosion of a drone is seen during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 10, 2025. REUTERS The fresh attacks came hours after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment in the three-year war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating a Russian response to Ukraine's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases. Plumes of smoke were visible in Kyiv as air defense forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Ukrainian residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the hours-long attack. Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son Levko were among them. 'I just try not to think about all this, silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, the attacks. Distract the child somehow because its probably the hardest thing for him to bear,' she said. 3 People rest in a metro station, being used as a bomb shelter, during a Russian drones attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, June 10, 2025. AP 3 A resident reacts as he passes by burning debris following Russia's missile and drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. AP Krystyna Semak, a 37-year-old Kyiv resident, said the explosions frightened her and she ran to the metro at 2 a.m. with her rug. Russia has been launching a record-breaking number of drones and missiles targeting Ukraine while the two countries continue to swap prisoners of war, the only tangible outcome of recent direct peace talks held in Istanbul. A ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive. In Kyiv, fires broke out in at least four districts after debris from shot down drones fell on the roofs of residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. Vasyl Pesenko, 25, stood in his kitchen, damaged in the attack. 'I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds (drones) would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),' he said. 'I thought that it would fly away, but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
China's Xi urges respect, 'right track' in call with South Korean counterpart
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping told South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday that the two countries should respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and ensure ties move forward "on the right track", Chinese state media reported. In their first phone call since Lee took office last week, Xi said healthy, stable and continuously deepening China-South Korea relations were conducive to regional and world peace and stability, according to state broadcaster CCTV. China is South Korea's biggest trading partner and diplomatic relations between the two have improved since a 2017 spat over South Korea's installation of a U.S. missile defence system that Beijing opposed. Xi urged the two countries to strengthen exchanges, adhere to the direction of "friendly neighbours" and jointly safeguard global and regional industrial, supply chains. A strategic cooperative partnership between both countries would bring more benefits to both and "inject more certainty into the chaotic regional and international situation." "It is necessary to respect each other's core interests and major concerns, firmly grasp the general direction of bilateral relations, and ensure that relations always move forward on the right track," Xi was quoted as saying by CCTV. Lee's decisive victory in last week's snap election stands to usher in a sea-change in Asia's fourth-largest economy. He faces what could be the most daunting set of challenges for a South Korean leader in nearly three decades, ranging from healing a country deeply scarred by his predecessor's martial law attempt to tackling unpredictable protectionist moves by the United States, a major trading partner and a security ally.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration deploys Marines to Los Angeles, vows to intensify migrant raids
By Brad Brooks, Jane Ross, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration on Monday ordered U.S. Marines into Los Angeles and intensified raids on suspected undocumented immigrants, fueling more outrage from street protesters and Democratic leaders who raised concerns over a national crisis. Some 700 Marines based in Southern California were expected to reach Los Angeles Monday night or Tuesday morning, officials said, as part of a federal strategy to quell street demonstrations opposing the immigration raids, which are a part of a signature effort of President Donald Trump's second term. Although their mission to protect federal personnel and property is temporary - filling the gaps until a full contingent of 4,000 National Guard troops can reach Los Angeles - the deployment is an extraordinary use of military force in support of a police operation, and it comes over the objection of state and local leaders who did not request help. Meanwhile, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry out even more operations to round up suspected immigration violators, extending a crackdown that provoked the protests. Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for permitting upheaval and protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities. The military and federal enforcement operations have further polarized America's two major political parties as Trump, a Republican, threatened to arrest California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, for resisting the federal crackdown. California sued the Trump administration to block deployment of the National Guard and the Marines on Monday, arguing that it violates federal law and state sovereignty. The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was "gravely troubled" by Trump's deployment of active-duty Marines. "The president is forcibly overriding the authority of the governor and mayor and using the military as a political weapon. This unprecedented move threatens to turn a tense situation into a national crisis," Reed said. "Since our nation's founding, the American people have been perfectly clear: we do not want the military conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil," he said. The announcement that Marines would be deployed was made on the fourth straight day of protests. Late on Monday police began to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants have been held. Police said arrests were being made. National Guard forces had formed a human barricade to keep people out of the building. Then a phalanx of police moved up the street, pushing people from the scene and firing "less lethal" munitions such as gas canisters. Police had used similar tactics since Friday. RARE USE OF MILITARY U.S. Marines are known as the first American forces to establish and beachhead in U.S. military interventions, and as the last forces to leave any occupation. Though military forces have been deployed domestically for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the attacks of September 11, 2001, it is extremely rare for troops to be used domestically during civil disturbances. Even without invoking the Insurrection Act, Trump can deploy Marines under certain conditions of law or under his authority as commander in chief. The last time the military was used for direct police action under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California governor at the time asked President George H.W. Bush to help respond to Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King. Newsom contends it is his charge as governor to call in the National Guard, labeling Trump's" action as "an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism." Trump in turn said he supported a suggestion by his border czar Tom Homan that Newsom should be arrested over possible obstruction of his administration's immigration enforcement measures. "I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great," Trump told reporters. FOUR DAYS OF PROTESTS The protests so far have resulted in a few dozen arrests and some property damage. "What is happening effects every American, everyone who wants to live free, regardless of how long their family has lived here," said Marzita Cerrato, 42, a first-generation immigrant whose parents are from Mexico and Honduras. Protests also sprang up in at least nine other U.S. cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to local news outlets. In Austin, Texas, police fired nonlethal munitions and detained several people as they clashed with a crowd of several hundred protesters. Before the Los Angeles dispersal, several hundred protesters outside a detention center chanted "free them all," flew Mexican and Central American flags, and directed sometimes-vulgar insults toward federal officers. At dusk, officers had running confrontations with protesters who had scattered into the Little Tokyo section of the city. As people watched from apartment patios above street level, and as tourists huddled inside hotels, a large contingent of LAPD and officers and sheriffs deputies fired several flash bangs that boomed through side streets along with tear gas. Homeland Security said its Immigration and Customs Enforcement division had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day in recent days, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden. "We conducted more operations today than we did the day before and tomorrow we are going to double those efforts again," Noem told Fox News' "Hannity." "The more that they protest and commit acts of violence against law enforcement officers, the harder ICE is going to come after them." Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass opposed the clampdown, telling MSNBC, "This is a city of immigrants." Noem countered that, "They are not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals."
