Uznews, Tashkent, 11 Feb 2009 – Uzbekistan with its six imprisoned journalists is the worst among the Central Asian countries in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Attacks on the Press in 2008 report. Uzbekistan failed to fulfil its pledges of reforms in the human rights and media spheres given to the EU and fully destroyed independent media, the committee concluded in the report.
This policy reflects the position of the Uzbek government which is continuing to suppress independent press. It made its pledges in order to persuade the EU to abolish its sanctions imposed against the country for the Andijan killings in May 2005.
“With six reporters in prison in late year, Uzbekistan was the region’s leading jailer of journalists. International broadcast media remained blocked, and government security agents enforced censorship rules on domestic news media,” the report says.
In a letter marking the Andijan anniversary in May, CPJ urged President Islam Karimov to free imprisoned journalists, lift the country’s ban on international broadcasts, and abandon its censorship efforts at home. However, the president has not answered this letter.
In the report, CPJ drew particular attention to the case of independent journalist Jamshid Karimov, Islam Karimov’s nephew, who has been forced to undergo psychiatric treatment since September 2006.
The committee also expressed concern over the sentencing of Uznews.net’s correspondent in Karakalpakstan Salijon Abdurahmanov to 10 years in prison last October. It has repeatedly urged the Uzbek government to release the Karakalpak journalist.
The news websites Ferghana.ru, Uznews.net, Centrasia.ru, Lenta.ru and that of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) were among those blocked within the country, while the BBC, the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle were among the broadcasters that were inaccessible, the report says.
“All had been blocked since 2005, when Uzbek authorities moved aggressively to limit international scrutiny and punish outlets that tried to cover the Andijan killings,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
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