Committee to Protect Journalists - Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan should free editor to receive medical care

2013-04-02T19:17:21Z

New York, April 2, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing imprisonment of independent Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov, whose health has severely deteriorated in jail, and urges authorities to immediately release him so that he may receive medical care. Bekjanov and a colleague, both of whom were jailed in 1999, have been in prison for longer than any other journalists worldwide, according to CPJ research.

Attacks on the Press in 2012: Uzbekistan

2013-02-14T05:05:27Z

Press freedom remained in a deep freeze under authoritarian leader Islam Karimov. The authorities continued to imprison critical journalists on lengthy terms. Muhammad Bekjanov, one of the two longest-imprisoned journalists in the world, was sentenced to an additional prison term just days before his scheduled release. The handful of independent journalists in the country faced politicized prosecution, censorship, and other forms of repression. The authorities permitted minimal Western media presence. A BBC journalist who broke a story on forced sterilization of Uzbek women was barred from entering the country in February. The authorities continued their practice of hiring “experts” to build fabricated criminal cases against journalists on charges ranging from national defamation to extremism. Using that tactic, prosecutors filed criminal cases against two independent reporters in 2012. The government’s vast censorship practices earned it a place on CPJ’s 10 Most Censored Countries list, published in May. The authorities aggressively expanded censorship during the year: The state communications agency was told to block websites deemed “threatening to the nation’s information space”; the education ministry barred college students from visiting Internet cafés; and the government raided and seized control of the local branch of the Russian telecommunications company, MTS, causing up to 10 million Uzbeks to lose mobile Internet and phone access. In a July documentary, a state-owned broadcaster called online activism a weapon worse than bombs.

Attacks on the Press: Prison Census 2012: A Worldwide Roundup

2013-02-14T05:04:36Z

Worldwide tally reaches highest point since CPJ began surveys in 1990. Governments use charges of terrorism, other anti-state offenses to silence critical voices. Turkey is the world's worst jailer. A CPJ special report

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Uzbekistan

2012-02-21T05:56:00Z

Authoritarian leader Islam Karimov marked Media Workers Day by calling for an independent domestic press, the state news agency UzA reported, but his long-standing policies of repression belied such statements. The regime is a persistent jailer of journalists, often ranking among the worst in the region. Embattled reporter Abdumalik Boboyev faced official obstruction when he tried to travel to Germany; officials cited his prosecution in 2010 on charges of “insulting the Uzbek nation” as reason. Two other reporters faced retaliation after they participated in media seminars outside Uzbekistan. In the face of official intimidation, domestic media complied with censorship regulations and refrained from covering the popular uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa. Mindful of the role the Internet played in the Arab revolutions, Uzbek authorities expanded their list of internally blocked news websites and created a state commission to censor content in the Uzbekistan domain.

Uzbek editor sentenced to jail while still in prison

2012-01-25T22:26:18Z

New York, January 25, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the politically motivated additional sentence handed to Muhammad Bekjanov, the jailed editor of now-defunct opposition newspaper Erk, who has been in prison in Uzbekistan since 1999 on trumped-up charges.

Embattled reporter prevented from leaving Uzbekistan

2011-05-25T20:01:53Z

New York, May 25, 2011--Uzbek authorities must stop harassing Abdumalik Boboyev, a stringer for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, and allow him to leave Uzbekistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Attacks on the Press 2010: Europe and Central Asia Analysis

2011-02-15T05:52:00Z

On the Runet, Old-School Repression Meets New

By Nina Ognianova and Danny O'Brien

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has often talked about the importance of a free press and free Internet, telling reporters before his election that the Web "guarantees the independence of mass media." He explicitly tied the two together in his first State of the Union address in November 2008, declaring that "freedom of speech should be backed up by technological innovation" and that no government official "can obstruct discussion on the Internet."

Attacks on the Press 2010: Uzbekistan

2011-02-15T05:06:00Z

Top Developments
• State deploys analysts to build sweeping criminal defamation cases.
• Numerous regional and international news websites are blocked.

Key Statistic
6: Journalists in prison on December 1, the highest figure in the region.

Even as President Islam Karimov was calling for more "active" news reporting, his government was rolling out a new tactic designed to quash critical journalism. Using an obscure state agency to formulate the charges, Uzbek prosecutors arrested at least three journalists on vague allegations of defamation. In one of the cases, a photographer was convicted of insulting the whole of Uzbek citizenry with her images of life in rural Uzbekistan.

EU should press Uzbekistan on news media crisis

2011-01-19T21:52:42Z

Dear President Barroso: We're writing in advance of your January 24 meeting in Brussels with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to urge you to raise Uzbekistan's grave press freedom conditions and to make clear to Karimov that any improvement of the country's relationship with Europe is dependent on him taking steps to fix the press freedom crisis. The European Union made clear it is committed to human rights in Central Asia in its 2009 plan, "The European Union and Central Asia: The New Partnership in Action."

Uzbekistan should drop charges against journalists

2010-10-08T21:19:15Z

Dear President Karimov: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the politicized prosecution of two journalists: Abdumalik Boboyev, a stringer for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA), and Vladimir Berezovsky, an editor for the news website Vesti.

Andijan police release independent journalist

2010-06-18T20:44:44Z

New York, June 18, 2010—We issued the following statement after police in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan released independent Uzbek reporter Aleksei Volosevich after holding him without charge for three days; Volosevich was filming refugees from the unrest in Kyrgyzstan. Police confiscated his phone, footage, and audio recorder, Volosevich told CPJ.

Andijan police continue to hold independent journalist

2010-06-15T21:12:50Z

New York, June 15, 2010—We issued the following statement after confirming that police in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan continue to hold independent Uzbek reporter Aleksei Volosevich for a third consecutive day. Volosevich had travelled to the border with Kyrgyzstan to report on the conditions for refugees, fleeing the bloody ethnic clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan’s south, when he was arrested for unknown reasons on Sunday. His personal documents were not on him at the time, and his mobile phone is turned off.

Kyrgyz stations shut down, only state TV broadcasting

2010-06-14T22:15:26Z

New York, June 14, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by reports that local television stations in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh were ordered to cease transmission on Friday by the city government in the wake of interethnic violence in the region. Osh residents now have access only to the state television channel, KTR, and several Russian television channels, the independent news agency Zpress reported.

Government increases pressure on Uzbek journalists

2010-02-17T15:07:11Z

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by your government’s intensified pressure on independent journalists in Uzbekistan.

Attacks on the Press 2009: Uzbekistan

2010-02-16T05:08:00Z

Top Developments
• Nation is a persistent jailer of journalists.
• Security agents enforce rigid censorship.

Key Statistic
4: Years EU human rights sanctions were in place before being lifted in 2009.

President Islam Karimov’s authoritarian government held at least seven journalists in prison, retaining its notorious distinction as the region’s leading jailer of journalists. Authorities harassed independent journalists, blocked critical news Web sites, and retained their tight grip on traditional media. Lawyers who defended journalists found themselves the targets of state retaliation as the country’s judicial system grew more punitive. While authorities kept a stranglehold on free expression at home, Uzbek diplomats insisted that their country’s actions were consistent with democratic principles.