'The Dictator' won't play in Tajikistan

Sacha Baron Cohen's spoof of rogue-state tyrants has been shut out of the Central Asian state of Tajikistan, according to Agence France-Presse.

Cohen's character, General Admiral Aladeen, may hit a little too close to home for Tajikistan's current president, Emomalii Rahmon, a former Soviet apparatchik who came to power during a civil war and has ruled the country since 1992. The U.S. State Department issued a dismal report on Tajikistan in 2010, citing the usual problems: torture of detainees, denial of the right to a fair trial, life-threatening prison conditions and “trafficking in persons.”

Officially, however, none of this has any bearing on the country's refusal to show Cohen's latest comedy. The stated reason: All of Tajikistan's theaters are full.

“We do not have space to show it,” said an unnamed Tajik film distributor, according to the AFP. “We just cannot show all the films.”