DUSHANBE, July 3, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Lawyers for detained Tajik researcher Alexander Sodiqov say they have been granted permission to meet with their client for the first time since his arrest, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Abdulqayum Yusufi told RFE/RL that he and his colleague, Hasan Kavrakov, have been told that they will be granted access to Sodiqov on July 3.

The two lawyers have been hired by Sodiqov''s family.

Sodiqov''s former lawyer, who was appointed by the authorities, met him only once after his arrest last month.

Sodiqov, 31, a Tajik national residing in Canada, was detained in Tajikistan''s southern city of Khorog on June 16, shortly after speaking with civil society activists there.

He was later charged with high treason and spying.

Sodiqov said he had been touring Central Asia as part of his doctoral research at Britain’s University of Exeter and the University of Toronto.