(Writes through with arrests) By Maria Golovnina DUSHANBE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Tajikistan's authorities detained three activists on Saturday for taking part in a rare protest against next week's presidential election which the opposition has condemned as a Soviet-style sham. Tajikistan's fragmented opposition joined forces to rally in the centre of the capital Dushanbe ahead of Monday's vote. It was the first public protest since the end of a civil war in 1997. President Imomali Rakhmonov, criticised for cracking down on civil liberties and jailing dissidents in the ex-Soviet Central Asian state, is expected to win a third term in the Nov. 6 election to extend his 14-year rule. A few dozen activists, looking tense and fearful, gathered in front of the Justice Ministry and waved banners calling for the observance of electoral law. They left voluntarily half an hour later. The unsanctioned rally was followed by at least three arrests, police said. "We've started investigating the matter," said a source in the Interior Ministry, adding the three were from the opposition Democratic party. The party confirmed the arrests. The opposition is boycotting the poll, saying it will be no different from staged, Soviet era elections. Rakhmonov, 54, faces four little-known candidates from state-friendly parties. Tajikistan is still recovering from the brutal civil war of the 1990s that destroyed much of its economy and caused tens of thousands of deaths. The war pitted Rakhmonov's Moscow-backed government against an alliance of Islamists and liberals. The opposition, powerful at the time, has lost much of its clout and is divided. The opposition said the authorities threatened them with more arrests if rallies continued. "After the rally a number of plain clothed men approached us and confiscated our banners," said Shukhrat Kudratov, an activist from the Social Democratic party. "They said they would arrest ... and beat us if we held another rally." Demonstrations such as Saturday's protest are uncommon and the predominant mood ahead of the election was one of apathy. Many voters in Dushanbe and surrounding villages said they saw no alternative to Rakhmonov, in power since 1992. "I don't know anything about the other candidates. I don't know what they look like," said Sarvinoz, a 26-year-old woman serving in a shop in the town of Nurek near Dushanbe. "I'll vote for Rakhmonov. Everyone says it's the right thing to do." (additional reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov)
