Attacks on the Press in 2012: Uzbekistan
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…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, May 2012CPJ highlights World Press Freedom Day In a new report marking World Press Freedom Day, CPJ listed the world’s top 10 most censored countries, where dictatorial control over news coverage is achieved through a combination of propaganda, brute force, and sophisticated technology. Eritrea, North Korea, and Syria topped the…
CPJ calls for release of jailed reporters in Central Asia
World leaders must hold Central Asian regimes responsible for denying global access to information by throwing critical reporters behind bars, CPJ Eurasia researcher Muzaffar Suleymanov told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe at a briefing Tuesday on political prisoners in Central Asia.
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Uzbekistan
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…
Uzbek editor sentenced to jail while still in prison
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.