Uzbekistan

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 26 February 2003 Human Rights Watch press release: Uzbekistan: Silencing Critical Voices Dissident Beaten and Ill in Police Custody (New York, February 26, 2003) – Uzbek authorities should immediately release a dissident who was beaten by police and is now seriously ill, Human Rights Watch said today. The arrest […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is an IFJ media release: IFJ Demands the Release of Uzbek Journalist Sentenced for Belonging to Illegal Party The International Federation of Journalists condemns the verdict in a court in Uzbekistan today, sentencing journalist Gayrat Mehliboev to seven years in prison for being a member of a banned extremist Islamic party. […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – According to information sent by Ozod Ovoz (Free Voice), a newly-established organisation that promotes freedom of speech in Uzbekistan, journalist Mutabar Tajibayeva has been missing since 6 December 2002. Tajibayeva was summoned to the Altyaryk District Court on 6 December but never turned up at the court. The next day, the Ferghana Provincial […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 24 October 2002 CPJ press release: CPJ RELEASES SPECIAL REPORT ON UZBEKISTAN New York, October 24, 2002-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today released a special report about the state of press freedom in the former Soviet republic, Uzbekistan, which is located in Central Asia. The report, titled “Back […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – According to information distributed by JuHI’s partner in Bishkek, the Kyrgyzstan Trade Union of Journalists, a journalist was violently beaten by customs officers on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. “This attack on a correspondent of an international media company shows that the situation of journalists in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is alarming and […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – Hopes are high that Uzbek National Day on 1 September 2002 will be marked by an amnesty which could include the release of political prisoners. Among them are the noted writer, Mamadali Makhmudov, and two other writers who have been detained since 1999. However, previous hopes that they would be included in an […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: CPJ URGES UZBEKISTAN TO FREE LOCAL PRESS Tashkent, June 10, 2002-A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a nine-day mission to Uzbekistan by calling on President Islam Karimov to free three jailed journalists and to change government policies that severely restrict press […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – The following is a 3 June 2002 JuHI press release: Uzbekistan: official censorship lifted, self-censorship remains On 13 May 2002, state censorship in Uzbekistan was officially eliminated. On 7 May 2002, the country’s official censor, Erkin Komilov, was dismissed from his post. As of 13 May, newspapers in Uzbekistan no longer require any […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – Uzbek poet Yusuf Dzhumaev has gone into hiding with his son after receiving a notice that he is to be re-arrested. International PEN is concerned that Dzhumaev is being harassed because of his criticism of the Uzbek authorities. On 23 March 2002, police came to the poet’s Bukhara home with a search warrant […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – According to information provided by the Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan (UIJU – http://www.uiju.org), Yevgheniy Dyakonov’s freedom of expression is under threat. Dyakonov is a member of UIJU and the founder of the online magazine “Zone” (www.zona.uz). In a UIJU letter to President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, the union stated that it […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – As previously reported, Oleg Sarapulov, a freelance journalist and deputy executive director of the Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan (UIJU), was detained by Uzbek militiamen claiming that he was homeless. On 13 March 2002, UIJU reported that Sarapulov was released. The journalist stated that he was mistreated while in detention. According to […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – According to information distributed by the Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan (UIJU), freelance journalist Oleg Sarapulov, who is also the UIJU’s deputy executive director, was arrested last week by Yakasaray district Internal Affairs Department (IAD) employees in Tashkent. Sarapulov was arrested at his home on 6 March 2002 and taken to the […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – The following is a translation of a 6 February 2002 letter by Ruslan Sharipov, president of the Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan, to Uzbek President Islam A. Karimov, in response to recent attacks. Sharipov’s letter is being distributed by JuHI: February 6, 2002 To President of Uzbekistan Islam A. Karimov Dear Islam […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to United States (U.S.) Secretary of State Colin Powell, RSF urged him to use his influence to prevent the Uzbek government from “brutally repressing” the country’s independent journalists. The organisation cited the recent attacks on journalist Ruslav Sharipov, shortly before he was due to travel to the U.S. to testify […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a 1 February 2002 letter to Uzbek Public Prosecutor Kadyrov Rachid Hamidovich and Minister of the Interior Kokir Almatov, RSF protested the acts of aggression carried out by police against Ruslan Sharipov, a correspondent for the Russian news agency Prima and president of the Independent Journalists Association of Uzbekistan. “We denounce the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 17 January 2002 CPJ press release: UZBEK JOURNALIST FREED New York, January 17, 2002-Shodi Mardiev, the Uzbek radio reporter who was sentenced in 1998 to an 11-year prison term for defamation and extortion, was released under an amnesty earlier this month, according to local and international sources. The journalist’s […]