DUSHANBE, June 4, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- New details have emerged about Tajik students detained by Egyptian police last Wednesday.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the MFA spokesman Davlat Nazriyev said not 14 but 15 Tajik students were detained in a police raid on Al-Azhar University in Cairo on May 27.  “Six of them were released the same day and four others were released on May 30,” said the spokesman, “Five other students namely Shavkat Ramazonov, Khurshed Ermatov, Faridoun Gulov, Idibek Ziyoviddin and Alamsho Sharifov are still under custody.”

Tajik nationals detained in Cairo are students at various universities of Cairo and they have arrived in Egypt on their own, Nazriyev said.

“Representatives from Tajik Embassy in Cairo have not yet met with Tajik students that are still under custody, however, our diplomatic mission has got into contact with Egyptian law enforcement authorities and we hope that diplomats will meet with the students in the near future,” the MFA spokesman said, noting that diplomats already met with those ten students that had been released.  “The students said they have no reason for complaint against the Cairo police.”