0:00:04 > 0:00:07What do all these very average looking men have in common?
0:00:07 > 0:00:10That's right, they're all dictators.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12And that means they love power,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14they hate journalists like me
0:00:14 > 0:00:17and they are, quite frankly, ridiculous.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21I'm on a journey to three former Soviet Union countries
0:00:21 > 0:00:25to find out what makes some of the world's most powerful tyrants tick -
0:00:25 > 0:00:27and to see the good,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29the bad
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and the completely mental about living under a dictatorship.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47This time, I'm off to Tajikistan.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53It's been ruled since 1996 by President Emomali Rahmon,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56who's also officially known as the Leader of the Nation
0:00:56 > 0:00:59and Founder of Peace and National Unity.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Here he is doing some serious dad dancing at his son's wedding -
0:01:04 > 0:01:07a lavish party, despite the fact that people in Tajikistan
0:01:07 > 0:01:10have an average income of just £800 a year.
0:01:12 > 0:01:13As it's a poor country,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Rahmon's dictatorial parades
0:01:15 > 0:01:18can't compete with others for their military hardware,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22but they would give Bob the Builder a run for his money.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25'I was up in the air, somewhere above Tajikistan,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27'but it wasn't yet safe for me to land.'
0:01:27 > 0:01:31So, I've never had a shave in a plane toilet before.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33And I don't really like shaving in general,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37because my beard accounts for about 89% of my sexiness.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41But none of that matters now, because I'm on my way to Tajikistan,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44a place where having a beard can get you in quite a lot of trouble.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49I kid you not. So all of this has got to go, sadly enough.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55'I'd heard stories of people literally being dragged off
0:01:55 > 0:01:56'the streets by the police
0:01:56 > 0:01:59'for sporting the kind of facial hair I had.'
0:01:59 > 0:02:02The shaver's actually running out of battery.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04No, no, no, no, no!
0:02:04 > 0:02:07If you're ever going to Tajikistan,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09remember to charge your shaver.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Oh, God.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Oh, God, it's dead.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15This looks more suspicious!
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Oh, no!
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Doing my best to fit in, I'd arrived in Dushanbe,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24the capital city.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Getting into these countries is hard,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28so we told the authorities we were making a travel programme,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and none of the interviewees would know it was actually a series about
0:02:31 > 0:02:35dictatorships - for their safety, and mine.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Despite the lack of cash in Tajikistan,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40President Rahmon clearly likes spending public money
0:02:40 > 0:02:41on big buildings,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44like his crazily bling presidential palace.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48He recently made a law that means he can keep the palace and his
0:02:48 > 0:02:51presidential summerhouse even when he leaves office.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54So this is the square of superlatives.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58On the right, you have the biggest museum in Central Asia,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01the biggest library and soon to be the biggest national theatre.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05But apparently, to really get noticed by other dictators,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07what you need most of all
0:03:07 > 0:03:10is an absolutely massive flagpole.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12It stands at 165 m and in 2011,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15it knocked Azerbaijan off the top and now sits
0:03:15 > 0:03:20above places like North Korea and Turkmenistan - all dictatorships.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22So why are all these dictators
0:03:22 > 0:03:25so desperate to have the biggest flagpole in the world?
0:03:25 > 0:03:28It doesn't take a psychoanalyst to understand why they do this -
0:03:28 > 0:03:30so the president can lie down here and say,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32"Look at the size of my wiener".
0:03:34 > 0:03:35Rahmon's giant flagpole
0:03:35 > 0:03:39isn't the only thing that looks down on the city.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41His portrait hangs all over the place,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43watching over his citizens.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47And it turned out, the police were watching us, too.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06So we've been filming for a couple of hours now and we've already had
0:04:06 > 0:04:10our first run-in with the law because Olly, the director,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12decided to film what was a very nice building, but turned out to be a
0:04:12 > 0:04:17government building and then we were very quickly surrounded by a lot of
0:04:17 > 0:04:20police and a lot of military telling us to stop and asking us for all our
0:04:20 > 0:04:24documents. It just reminds you that in (Dictatorland),
0:04:24 > 0:04:27you are being watched at all times.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30By everybody. I'm being watched right now by a guy in the window,
0:04:30 > 0:04:32but I think he's just curious.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34But it's...unsettling.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Rahmon keeps a close eye on his citizens,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41partly because he's worried about Islamic extremism.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45He came to power after a bloody civil war against Islamists and just
0:04:45 > 0:04:48across the border is Afghanistan - a hotbed of radical Islam.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Today, in Tajikistan, even a beard can cause a panic.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56I met up with Rustam,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00whose facial hair had got him in trouble with the police.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02When I just walked near the bazaar,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04they have stopped me and said that
0:05:04 > 0:05:08they have orders from the ministry to shave beards.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13They bring me to the police department and shaved my beard.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14They actually hold you down and...
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Yes, yes.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Three of them was hold me and shaved my beard.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Since it happened,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Rustam has refused to keep his facial hair in check and so far,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27he hasn't been forcibly shaved again.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29I mean, how long was your beard?
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Oh, not so long.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34I mean, it's not big at all. Why do you think they were doing it?
0:05:34 > 0:05:35I mean, what were they trying to achieve?
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Maybe they thought that they will fight radicalism.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42It's probably quite easy if all terrorists have beards.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46If you shave their beards, then you don't know who they are!
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It seems slightly counter-productive!
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Lots of other people were shaved along with Rustam,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55but in a country where opening your mouth can get you in trouble,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57it's impossible to say how many.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01I can't really imagine what that'd feel like if that happened to me.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03What it proves is that, at any point,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05if the government decide they have an issue with you,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08there's nothing really you can do about it, because they own you.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15It isn't just the police helping to keep control of people.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17I'd heard about a youth group
0:06:17 > 0:06:19that also kept an eye out for signs of trouble.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23So I am just about to meet, in this fine Tajikistan weather,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25a man from the local youth group - Avangard.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28This is a group that states they love the President
0:06:28 > 0:06:29and the government here,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32so I'm going to be trying to find out why that is the case
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and to see exactly what they do.
0:06:34 > 0:06:3825-year-old student Asliddin founded and runs Avangard,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41but he didn't look like any of the students I knew when I was at uni.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45You have the most well-ironed suit I've ever seen, you look very nice!
0:06:45 > 0:06:48How come you are dressed like this, is this what you always wear?
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'Instead of spending their days playing video games in their undies,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59'these students get their kicks in a different way.'
0:06:59 > 0:07:00This isn't what I expected.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It's a hall of a load of men wearing blue T-shirts.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Asliddin told us that he has the endorsement of the government, so,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20when people are told to attend a lecture, they do.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Although people had to be there,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35audience participation seemed limited.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47After a warm handshake with the police, we headed onto the streets.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54I got the sense that people were wary of Asliddin - not surprising,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57as it turns out his group have helped to imprison people
0:07:57 > 0:07:59that the regime doesn't like.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Do you think that people here are a little bit scared of you,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05because you guys do seem kind of scary?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15But you can get them into trouble, though, by basically telling
0:08:15 > 0:08:18the authorities that you suspect there may be something wrong?
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Is that true?
0:08:28 > 0:08:29What are you trying to achieve?
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Are you trying to check to make sure
0:08:31 > 0:08:34that they're doing what they're meant to be doing, or...?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I wondered whether it was just religious extremists
0:08:52 > 0:08:53that Avangard kept a lookout for.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12There we go, thank you.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16I am officially a Tajik informer.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20It was starting to dawn on me that I was in a full-on police state.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23What's really happening is that groups like Avangard are
0:09:23 > 0:09:26just helping to create this culture of informants,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28who are making sure that nobody steps out of line and,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32more importantly, nobody says anything bad about the government.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Away from prying ears,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37I wanted to find someone who could give me a more honest take on
0:09:37 > 0:09:39the government, but it wasn't easy.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43When I try and speak to people off-camera,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45who have no involvement with politics,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and I try to get them to appear in the show,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50they're all just terrified to do so
0:09:50 > 0:09:51and it's kind of difficult for me to
0:09:51 > 0:09:55know whether that's a genuine fear or whether it's completely imagined,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57but what is certain is that
0:09:57 > 0:09:59everybody here is scared of something.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03HE RAPS
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Maybe one of the country's biggest rap stars
0:10:09 > 0:10:11would be man enough to tell it like it is?
0:10:13 > 0:10:16How are you? 'I met up with the man who calls himself Baron.'
0:10:28 > 0:10:31But it turns out his rap isn't quite what I was used to.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47In the video for Motherland, one of his best-known tracks,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Baron is woken by a presidential appeal to young people
0:10:50 > 0:10:51to love their country.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12A lot of what you rap about seems to be about the awesomeness of the
0:11:12 > 0:11:16government and the leader - what exactly makes them so awesome?
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Yes, that was genuinely amazing!
0:11:57 > 0:12:01You're clearly a really positive dude with really good rap skills,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03but what if one day you're not so positive
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and you want to say more negative things -
0:12:05 > 0:12:07would you do that about the country?
0:12:23 > 0:12:24Fair point.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27In a country that's well on its way to being a dictator's dream
0:12:27 > 0:12:31of everyone snooping on each other, why rap yourself into prison?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36And besides, when people do say things they shouldn't,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38the government is happy to shut them up.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Twitter is blocked, Facebook is also blocked,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46all the social media sites are blocked, actually.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51And of course, anything that makes the president look a bit silly...
0:12:51 > 0:12:53has to go.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58When this video of President Rahmon getting stuck into his son's wedding
0:12:58 > 0:13:02with some fancy footwork and a little karaoke went viral,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05he did what any self-respecting dictator would do.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07He shut down YouTube.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Weddings are a touchy subject in Tajikistan -
0:13:14 > 0:13:18even when you're getting married, the big boss can stick his nose in.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22I've come to the outskirts of Dushanbe in my finest threads,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24because I've been invited to a Tajik wedding.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Oh, is this the bride?
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Very nice to meet you!
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Thank you for letting me come!
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- Thank you! - You don't need...
0:13:34 > 0:13:36- I don't do that, by the way! - Yeah, it's only for her!
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Oh, sorry! OK. How do I react?
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- Rahmat. Thank you. - Oh, Rahmat.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- Yeah. - Is she excited?
0:13:43 > 0:13:45SHE TRANSLATES
0:13:46 > 0:13:47But she's shy!
0:13:47 > 0:13:50HE SPEAKS IN TAJIK LANGUAGE
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Rahmat!
0:13:55 > 0:13:56'For their own safety,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00'I told everyone at the wedding I was making a travel documentary.'
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Are these hats? Are they hats?
0:14:03 > 0:14:06'But I tried to get a bit too immersed into the local culture.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:08I would like a Tajik...
0:14:11 > 0:14:13How do I find one?
0:14:16 > 0:14:17OK!
0:14:19 > 0:14:21All right, I'm getting in too deep, now!
0:14:28 > 0:14:30OK, it started off as a joke,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32now I think she is actually taking it serious!
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'Thankfully, the groom arrived, taking the heat off me.'
0:14:40 > 0:14:42He's finally here, he didn't run away.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47'Traditional Tajik weddings used to have crowds of around 500 people,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50'but President Rahmon has put an end to that.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54'He decided people were using weddings to show off, so now,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57'you can be fined if you have more than 150 guests.'
0:14:57 > 0:14:59MUSIC PLAYS
0:15:02 > 0:15:05'There are even rules governing how long the wedding can last,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07'how many cars can drive the couple around
0:15:07 > 0:15:09'and the food that can be served.'
0:15:15 > 0:15:17After just a few days in Tajikistan,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I'd seen how difficult it is to avoid the presence of the big boss
0:15:20 > 0:15:23in basically every aspect of life
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and anyone who challenges him can face a brutal end.
0:15:27 > 0:15:28In 2014,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31when the leader of an opposition party in exile in Turkey
0:15:31 > 0:15:33was at dinner with his family,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36they were all poisoned, even his five-year-old son.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Realising what was happening,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41they fled the dinner only for the opposition leader
0:15:41 > 0:15:44to be gunned down outside.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45It isn't stating that the government
0:15:45 > 0:15:47gave the order for the assassination,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51but what is clear is that speaking out can get you killed.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Having spent my entire trip in the capital Dushanbe,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01I wanted to take a look at the rest of the country.
0:16:02 > 0:16:0593% of Tajikistan is mountainous.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09A large proportion of the population live in mountain villages,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12cut off from the relative wealth of the capital,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15in simple conditions that have barely changed for 100 years.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Probably the first time the BBC have rocked up.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23It's definitely very different from Dushanbe.
0:16:23 > 0:16:24Look at that.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27'While the president lives in his lavish palace in the capital
0:16:27 > 0:16:30'and spends money on things like giant flagpoles,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32'people here remain poor.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35'The government has made some progress in reducing poverty,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39'but a third of Tajiks still don't have enough food to eat.'
0:16:41 > 0:16:44The good thing about living in a village like this is that you're so
0:16:44 > 0:16:45far away from everything
0:16:45 > 0:16:47that you don't really have to worry about politics,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50but the downside to that is you are so far away,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53that politics doesn't really worry about you.
0:16:53 > 0:16:54You're completely left alone.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58The locals might be ignored as long as they keep out of trouble,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02but it's not so easy for foreign journalists to slip under the radar.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07The secret police had arrived in the village, looking for us.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09We just can't escape them.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18The fact that he's come here, which is quite far away,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20shows that they're always watching.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23They always know where you are when you're in Tajikistan.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Having taken our details, the police didn't stick around,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29but their visit gave a clear indication of how easy it would be
0:17:29 > 0:17:31to put a foot wrong here.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35So, after being here for one whole week,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38it's safe to say that this is probably not a society I would
0:17:38 > 0:17:41want to live in. It's a very unusual system for me,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44people cannot really be who they want to be and there's no real free
0:17:44 > 0:17:48speech, but it's also a place that has a lot of issues that
0:17:48 > 0:17:49Britain just doesn't have.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52It has major problems with Islamic extremism coming in from
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Afghanistan, it has real problems of poverty,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and it also was in a civil war just 20 years ago.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Some say Rahmon is just bringing the stability this country needs,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06but observers say Tajikistan is in the midst of a serious human rights
0:18:06 > 0:18:10crisis. Either way, he's going nowhere any time soon.