Uzbekistan / Europe & Central Asia

Since July 25, 2020, Uzbek police and representatives of the country’s public prosecutor’s office have interrogated at least six local journalists and confiscated their computers and mobile devices, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. On July 25, several local Uzbek outlets shared allegations originally published on the news website Repost that…

Washington, D.C., October 8, 2019 – Uzbekistan authorities must immediately release journalist Nafosat Olloshukurova and allow her to report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., September 16, 2019 — Authorities in Uzbekistan must immediately release blogger Nodirbek Hojimatov and allow him to work freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, September 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Uzbek authorities to end their harassment of bloggers covering religious issues, and to release at least four individuals arrested for their writing. Police in several Uzbek cities made arrests between August 28 and September 4, according to media reports.

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined a coalition of 11 other international press freedom and human rights advocacy groups, in calling on U.S. Congress to require lasting human rights protection in Uzbekistan during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s first official visit to the U.S. on May 16 and 17.

New York, May 7, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from custody today of Uzbek journalists Bobomurod Abdullaev and Hayot Nasriddinov, who had been on trial in Tashkent since March 5, 2018. With the pair’s release, there are no journalists behind bars in Uzbekistan for the first time in two decades, according to…

New York, March 2, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today confirmed that Yusuf Ruzimuradov, the longest-imprisoned journalist worldwide, was freed in Uzbekistan in late February. CPJ called on authorities to take further steps to improve the climate for the media by dropping charges against two independent journalists who are due in court in a separate…

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a coalition of 11 other international press freedom and human rights advocacy groups, in calling on Uzbek authorities to conduct an investigation into allegations of torture and ill-treatment of jailed journalists Bobomurod Abdullaev and Hayot Nasriddinov. The coalition, led by Human Rights Watch, called for the journalists to…

New York, October 5, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the Uzbek authorities to immediately release journalist Bobomurod Abdullaev, who went missing on September 27 and has since been secretly tried in a criminal court in Tashkent, the capital.

New York, September 27, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ukrainian authorities to release Uzbek journalist Narzullo Okhunjonov. The journalist could face extradition to Uzbekistan, his lawyer, Aleksei Fyodorov, said.