A man celebrating his 25th birthday at an Irish pub in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, has been arrested and fined £400 after sharing photos of the event on Facebook.
Article 8 of the Central Asian republic's law on traditions and customs prohibits the celebration of birthdays anywhere except in the privacy of the family circle.
The man, named as Amirbek Isoev, initially claimed in court that it was a friends' night out, before the judge was shown his social media post containing messages of birthday congratulations, reports Radio Free Europe.
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According to the BBC, a waiter from the pub told the court that it didn’t look like a planned celebration. "Somehow, the cake got plastered on his face. No-one congratulated him on his birthday," said the waiter – but this was not accepted by the judge.
The law puts a limit on the number of guests, the amount of money spent, and the duration of each type of gathering. It was adopted in 2007 after President Emomali Rahmon, who has been in power for 21 years, said the practice of big celebrations was putting a heavy strain on Tajik families who would often go into debt in order to "keep up appearances".
"I was aware of the law," Isoev said, "but I always thought it was against people who spend lots of money to throw lavish parties". Isoev said he and his guests spent 540 somonis – around £55 – in total.
He lost an appeal in a higher Dushanbe city court and has claimed on his Facebook page that he doesn’t have the means to pay the £400 fine.
Court officials acknowledged it was the first time Tajik prosecutors had used Facebook photos and comments in such a case.
Isoev is not the first person to have fallen foul of the law. The News.tj website notes that it was violated 394 times in 2014, with one commenter on the site saying "maybe it's time to think about the absurdities of this law?"
