Professional clowns and operators of bouncy castles may want to think twice about that planned expansion into the Tajikistan market. In addition to its penchant for political oppression and routine blocking of social media sites, the country also expressly bans the public celebration of birthday parties. Amirbek Isayev, a 25-year-old Tajik, recently learned this the hard way when he stopped by a trendy restaurant in Dushanbe to meet some friends after picking up a cake to celebrate his special day. According to the country’s Commissars of Fun Regulation, Isayev and his scofflaws had the nerve to open the cake whilst inside the pub, and his friends even rubbed the icing on his face (gasp). The government cited his Facebook page and the accompanying photos as ‘Exhibit A’ in their prosecution, slapping the hapless birthday boy with a fine equivalent to US$ 600, or approximately four months’ salary. The law, which was intended to pare back the local appetite for lavish and financially ruinous parties, seems to have been applied a bit excessively in this case.
