Tajikistan detains second lawyer of banned Islamist party

| Wed Aug 24, 2016 2:33pm BST A Tajik lawyer who represented members of a banned Islamist party has been detained on charges of disclosing classified information, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday, the second such case in the Central Asian nation. Jamshed Yorov was detained on Tuesday in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe, a source at the prosecutor general's office said. A security source confirmed his detention which followed the publication of the full text of the verdict against the leaders of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT). Two former IRPT leaders were jailed for life in June and 11 other party members were sentenced to 14-28 years in prison in a closed trial which U.S.-based Human Rights Watch described as part of a "severe crackdown on political opposition". The classified text of their verdict has appeared this month on a Tajik opposition website based abroad. Jamshed Yorov's brother, Buzurgmehr Yorov, has been on trial since May on charges of fraud and extremism which he has dismissed as politically motivated. President Imomali Rakhmon's government has accused the Islamist party of being behind a failed coup last September led by a deputy defence minister who then died in a fight with government troops. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Richard Balmforth)