(WAN/IFEX) – The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) on Friday, 24 July 1998, called on Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov to set aside the conviction and 11-year prison sentence imposed on Shadi Mardiev, a 62-year-old reporter who was jailed after satirizing the alleged corrupt practices of a local prosecutor. **For background information, see IFEX alerts of […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) on Friday, 24 July
1998, called on Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov to set aside the
conviction and 11-year prison sentence imposed on Shadi Mardiev, a
62-year-old reporter who was jailed after satirizing the alleged corrupt
practices of a local prosecutor.
**For background information, see IFEX alerts of 17 July and 29 June 1998**
In a letter to Mr Karimov, WAN President Bengt Braun asked the president “to
do everything in your power to ensure that the conviction of Mr. Mardiev is
set aside.”
Mr. Mardiev, a reporter with the state-run Samarkand radio station, is well
known for his critical stance toward corruption and for his writing in the
satirical journal “Mushtum.” He was arrested on corruption and extortion
charges in November 1997 and held in pre-trial detention until the court
hearing in June 1998.
He suffered two brain hemorrhages, and the detention is believed to have
contributed to his declining health. He remains in solitary confinement,
awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case stems from a June 1997 broadcast which satirized the allegedly
corrupt practices of Talat Abdulkhalikzada, the Samarkand deputy prosecutor,
who accused Mr. Mardiev of defamation and alleged the journalist had used
the threat of the impending broadcast to attempt to extort money from him.
“We respectfully point out that criminal law is a wholly inappropriate means
of dealing with the issue of defamation, and such practice runs contrary to
international norms of free expression,” Mr. Braun wrote to the Uzbekistan
president. “We believe that a civil award of damages is adequate and
appropriate relief for individuals who feel they have been
defamed.”
WAN also urged Mr. Karimov “to demonstrate your personal commitment to free
expression in Uzbekistan by ensuring the charge of extortion is not used as
a pretext to silence Mr. Mardiev.”
WAN, the global association of the newspaper industry, represents 15,000
newspapers and defends and promotes press freedom world-wide.
