(RSF/IFEX) – In a 19 November 2001 letter to Uzbekistan’s Minister of the Interior Zokerjon Almatov and Minister of Defence Kadir Gulyamov, RSF asked the Uzbek authorities to lift the administrative obstacles that are preventing journalists from entering Afghanistan. “Journalists representing 150 media outlets from many countries remain blocked in Termez, at the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 19 November 2001 letter to Uzbekistan’s Minister of the Interior Zokerjon Almatov and Minister of Defence Kadir Gulyamov, RSF asked the Uzbek authorities to lift the administrative obstacles that are preventing journalists from entering Afghanistan.
“Journalists representing 150 media outlets from many countries remain blocked in Termez, at the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border, and are being prevented from getting to Mazar-e-Sharif,” stated Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you lift these unacceptable obstacles to the freedom to inform,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, journalists in Termez, at the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border, are still being prevented from crossing the border near the bridge that crosses the Amou-Daria, on the pretext that it is officially closed. Dozens of workers from humanitarian organisations, as well as representatives from numerous international media outlets, have been denied the right to cross the bridge that borders Afghanistan, thus barring them from getting to Mazar-e-Sharif.
RSF recalls that there is no press freedom in Uzbekistan, where all media are subject to censorship.
