AKIPRESS.COM - Authorities in Tajikistan have drawn up a register of 367 allegedly gay citizens, suggesting they would be required to undergo testing to avoid the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases, The Guardian reported.

Details of the move was unveiled in Zakonnost, a newspaper published by Tajikistan’s state prosecutor, which said the official list of “gay and lesbian” citizens was compiled following research into the LGBT community.

Rights activists in this authoritarian central Asian nation have in the past raised fears over discrimination faced by LGBT individuals in this conservative country that is mainly Muslim but has secular authorities.

The paper said that working groups set up last year had identified 319 gay men and 48 lesbians but no transgender people in the former Soviet republic of 8.5 million.

It said the list was drawn up following two state “operations” last year entitled “Morality” and “Purge”, without giving further details.

Zakonnost did not specify what kind of checks would be involved, but said the people had been “put on a register due to their vulnerability in society and for their safety and to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.”