Committee to Protect Journalists - Tajikistan

Tajikistan orders Internet providers to block websites

2012-03-07T19:04:54Z

New York, March 7, 2012--Authorities in Tajikistan must immediately lift the order blocking domestic access to several news websites and Facebook, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Tajikistan

2012-02-21T05:54:00Z

Investigative journalists were targeted with retaliatory arrests and debilitating lawsuits, marking a decline in press freedom conditions. Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter for the independent weekly Nuri Zindagi, was imprisoned for nearly a year on defamation charges related to stories on government corruption in the northern Sogd region. BBC correspondent Urinboy Usmonov spent a month in jail after security agents arrested him on extremism charges stemming from his reports on the banned Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The independent newspaper Asia Plus and reporter Ramziya Mirzobekova faced a civil lawsuit from a senior Interior Ministry official who accused them of spreading false information in a story about a man who died in government custody, press reports said. And a Dushanbe-based independent newspaper, Paykon, was forced to close after a state agency won a sizable judgment in a defamation case related to a letter alleging corruption. In September, President Emomali Rahmon ended the requirement that senior officials convene quarterly press conferences, diminishing already-limited access to leaders.

In Russia, unknown attacker stabs exiled Tajik journalist

2012-01-13T19:14:56Z

New York, January 13, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday's attack in Moscow on Dododzhon Atovulloyev, exiled publisher and editor-in-chief of the Tajik pro-opposition newspaper Charogi Ruz.

Tajik journalists convicted, released from jail

2011-10-14T18:04:56Z

New York, October 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by today's release of two Tajik journalists, but condemns their convictions on extremism and insult, among other charges, and calls for the quashing of the convictions on appeal.

Tajikistan must release reporters

2011-10-13T19:35:54Z

New York, October 13, 2011--As a court in Tajikistan prepares to issue verdicts in the politicized criminal prosecutions of BBC correspondent Urinboy Usmonov, and Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter with the independent weekly Nuri Zindagi, the Committee to Protect Journalists is demanding justice.

Tajik journalist faces 16 years in jail

2011-09-29T20:10:08Z

New York, September 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing imprisonment of journalist Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov and is dismayed by prosecutors' call for a hefty prison term on defamation and other charges.

BBC journalist goes on trial in Tajikistan

2011-08-17T20:03:19Z

New York, August 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tajik prosecutors to drop the fabricated extremism charges against Urinboy Usmonov, the BBC World Service correspondent in Tajikistan, and acquit him.

BBC reporter released in Tajikistan

2011-07-14T17:46:41Z

New York, July 14, 2001--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent, detained in June in Tajikistan and calls on authorities to fully exonerate him and remove restrictions on travel. Tajik authorities released Usmonov on bail but continue to charge him with extremism while imposing a travel ban, according to the BBC.

Tajikistan continues to hold BBC journalist

2011-07-13T21:53:31Z

New York, July 13, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Tajik prosecutors in Khujand, northern Tajikistan, to drop politicized extremism charges against BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov, and calls for his immediate release. The journalist is being charged with failing to report the activities of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir to Tajik law enforcement agencies, Usmonov's lawyer, Faiziniso Vokhidova, told the Tajik service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Radio Ozodi).

Imprisoned BBC reporter faces jail in Tajikistan

2011-06-23T19:21:17Z

New York, June 23, 2011--Tajik authorities must drop trumped-up charges against Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent in Tajikistan, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Tajikistan detains BBC correspondent on extremism charges

2011-06-16T15:57:27Z

New York, June 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention and reported beating in custody of Urinboy Usmonov, a local correspondent for the BBC Central Asia service, and calls for his immediate release.

Tajik journalist arrested on defamation, insult charges

2010-12-16T22:03:29Z

New York, December 16, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists today denounced the imprisonment in northern Tajikistan of Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter with the Dushanbe-based independent weekly Nuri Zindagi. Ismoilov was arrested in Sogd region on November 23, but the regional press first reported on the case on Monday. Ismoilov is currently being held in a pretrial facility in the city of Khujand, according to the local press.

Tajik judges seek millions from weeklies in civil libel case

2010-02-03T22:01:31Z

New York, February 3, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on judges in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, to drop their defamation lawsuits against three popular independent weeklies for damage amounts that would bankrupt them.

Attacks on the Press in 2008: Europe and Central Asia Developments

2009-02-10T05:35:00Z

Attacks on the Press 2007: Introduction

2008-02-05T17:11:00Z

By Joel Simon

In August 2008, when the Olympic torch is lit in Beijing, more than 20,000 journalists will be on hand to cover the competition between the world's greatest athletes. Behind the scenes, another competition will be taking place. If the Chinese government has its way, this one will remain hidden. It will be a battle over information, and it will have far greater implications for the world than the medal count.