Tajikistan

By Joel Simon

Beginning his 16th year as head of state, President Emomali Rahmonov promoted policies to foster “national identity.” He abolished Russified endings from Tajik surnames—and started by cutting the suffix “ov” from his own surname and decreeing that he be called President Rahmon. The newly renamed president went on to prohibit students from driving cars to school and to admonish the public for what he called lavish spending on weddings and funerals. In his annual address to parliament, Rahmon called for the development of a new press policy in which “Tajik mass media will be expected to raise patriotism with the public.”

New York, July 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon to veto amendments to the country’s criminal code that would broaden its defamation laws to include Internet publications. Amendments to several articles of the penal code were adopted by the upper house of Tajikistan’s parliament on July 19, according to CPJ sources. The bill is now with the president for his consideration.

President Imomali Rakhmonov buried independent and international media under a blizzard of arbitrary licensing regulations, content restrictions, and fees. Though Rakhmonov faced no strong opposition in the November presidential election, his administration limited critical news coverage in the run-up to his victory over four little-known opponents. Regulatory agencies—wary, too, of the sort of news coverage that helped fuel the 2005 uprising in neighboring Kyrgyzstan—moved aggressively to block international media from the public airwaves and to impose onerous controls on independent domestic media.

New York, November 3, 2006—Repression of opposition and independent news media has compromised the fairness of Monday’s presidential election, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. President Imomali Rakhmonov seeks a third, seven-year term in the balloting.

“We’re greatly concerned that Tajik authorities have deprived citizens of independent and diverse sources of news at a time when they are most needed,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “Voters cannot make a valid and informed choice at the polls when they are kept in the dark about the candidates and their platforms.”

New York, August 3, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Tajik government’s July 26 refusal to grant a license to the BBC for FM radio broadcasts in the capital, Dushanbe, and the northern city of Khudzhand. The broadcaster was taken off the air in January, allegedly for failure to comply with Tajikistan’s registration and licensing regulations.

“The Tajik government has thrown up numerous obstacles, some arbitrarily and unilaterally imposed, to block the BBC and deny citizens an important source of news,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “We call on authorities to allow the BBC to resume its FM broadcasts immediately.”

CPJ Update July 14, 2006 News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

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TAJIKISTAN

Popular uprisings elsewhere in Central Asia spurred Tajikistan to
further crack down on already-limited dissent. Repressive actions flowed from four domestic and regional events: a February 27 parliamentary vote; the Tulip Revolution in neighboring Kyrgyzstan in March; violent unrest in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan in May; and the prospect of presidential elections in 2006. Timed to each, President Imomali Rakhmonov and his administration censored independent and opposition media, and they harassed and jailed critical journalists.