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September 15, 2025 – Crimea/Russia/Siberia –
After more than six years of separation, Safiye, the daughter of Crimean Tatar journalist Remzi Bekirov, has finally reunited with her father for three days in a Russian Siberian penal colony. The meeting, in Khakassia, offered a brief but powerful respite for a family torn apart by political repression.
Remzi Bekirov, a citizen journalist from Crimea, is serving a 19-year sentence under accusations of creating a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell, charges widely regarded by human rights defenders as falsified and politically motivated. His reports on repression against Crimean Tatars are believed to be the true cause of his prosecution.
Safiye’s meeting required her mother Khalide and her three siblings to travel over 5,500 km from occupied Crimea to the remote colony. The family describes the visit as the best three days of her life. Bekirov, they say, has changed in appearance and demeanor under the harsh conditions of his imprisonment.
The wider story of Bekirov’s detention fits into a pattern: at least 28 Ukrainian civilian journalists, including Crimean Tatars, are being held by Russian authorities under broadly defined or spurious charges. Conditions for many are reportedly inhumane, involving lack of medical care, near-constant punishment cells, isolation, and prohibition of religious rites.
Earlier reports from his family noted serious health concerns, weight loss, and deteriorated social and mental well-being. Observers warn that such detentions violate international human rights standards, including provisions of the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of civilians and the rights of journalists.
Despite the severe repression, the meeting between parent and child underscores both the personal toll of political imprisonment and the resilience of families under such conditions. For Safiye and her siblings, the reunion is a fragile reminder of what is at stake—the chance to be recognized, to maintain bonds, and to hold on to identity. For Bekirov, for the Crimean Tatars, and for oppressed journalists everywhere, it is a call to the world: to remember, to resist, and to demand justice.
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