KHUJAND, Tajikistan — A BBC reporter in the northern Tajik province of Sughd has been sentenced to three years imprisonment — but set free under an amnesty law, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

On October 14, Urunboy Usmonov was found guilty of failing to inform the authorities about his contacts with the banned Islamic organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir. The journalist denies the charges and is expected to appeal the verdict.

Usmonov said he was tortured during his monthlong pretrial detention this summer.

The 59-year-old journalist and his employer maintain that any contact Usmonov had with Hizb ut-Tahrir was entirely for journalistic purposes.

Four other men were tried along with Usmonov in the same court in the northern Tajik town of Khujand. The men were found guilty of Hizb ut-Tahrir membership and were given prison sentences ranging between 20 and 22 years.

Earlier, in a separate court in Khujand, another Tajik reporter, Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov, was barred from journalistic work for three years and ordered to pay a 35,800-somoni (approximately $7,100) fine for causing moral damages with his articles that criticized local authorities.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, Johann Bihr of Reporters Without Borders welcomed the journalists’ release, saying the authorities were «using the judiciary to try and silence» them.

«They never committed any offense. They never committed any crime, and they should not have been condemned,» Bihr said.

«Quite the opposite, they should have been compensated for the harm they received, Ismoilov for being jailed almost one year and Usmonov for being jailed one month an being tortured. So this is really unacceptable.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_courts_free_two_journalists/24359961.html

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 13 October 2011 — The United Nations designated the second Wednesday of October as the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. More recently, it moved this annual observance to October 13th. The Day is meant to encourage citizens and governments alike to be a part of constructing more disaster resilient communities and countries.

The goals of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) and its Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO) align well with the International Day. Since 2003, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Tajikistan (FOCUS) has been an implementing partner of the DIPECHO project, with geographic coverage primarily in the eastern province of Tajikistan in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), in Afghanistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. FOCUS recently completed the sixth, consecutive DIPECHO Project offered in Central Asia.

Although the project formally ended on August 31, FOCUS received approval from ECHO to use excess funds towards recognizing the International Day and in doing so to increase disaster awareness and preparedness of the communities of GBAO. As part of project’s activities, working with the public education sector to achieve increased disaster risk reduction (DRR) awareness, FOCUS developed two paper-based activities for middle and secondary school children in DRR, which was exclusively published in a monthly journal distributed to schools through the Ministry of Education’s Institute for Professional Development. These activities were based around questions that heighten students’ knowledge of DRR in a very contextual way. Secondly, to increase DRR awareness, FOCUS provided the local television and news station with a short but effective public service announcement on DRR and earthquake preparedness through a video, entitled ‘Five Minutes for Life: Disaster Preparedness for the Family’ which was aired on International Day for Disaster Reduction. On Monday, October 7, the provincial newspaper featured activities on DRR which reached nearly 1,500 readers and on International Day, following the evening news, the DRR video will be broadcasted to an estimated 20,000 viewers. It is anticipated, based on past school and media-based DRR programming under the auspices of FOCUS and through projects like DIPECHO, it is confidently held that these initiatives will make a difference in the lives of communities in Tajikistan. Providing knowledge and education are the most effective way to create a large scale change that is sustainable and empowers ordinary citizens to re-imagine a world that is more disaster resilient and thus is better prepared for the adverse effects on livelihoods that are created by natural hazards.

International Day for Disaster Reduction provides a platform to create awareness to schools and vulnerable communities through DRR activities and media, which has wide access to remote and isolated mountain communities in Eastern Tajikistan to help individuals and families become more resilient to the impact of natural hazards.

For further information please contact:

Ms. Khosiyat Amidkhonova
Communications Officer

Focus Humanitarian Assistance
Tojikmatlubot, 4th Floor
137 Rudaki Avenue
Dushanbe
Tajikistan 734003
E-mail: khosiyat.amidkhonova@focushumanitarian.org
Phone: +992 (37) 2240512

The Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO) is one of the largest donors for humanitarian aid worldwide. With its funding, nearly 20 million victims of natural or manmade disasters are helped each year in about 70 countries. The aid is distributed through 200 partner organizations (Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, specialized UN agencies and European NGOs) impartially to those who need it most independently of their religion, ethnic origin, gender or political affiliation. For further information please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

Four senior U.S. senators, including the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have written to Turkmenistan’s ambassador in Washington to express «concern» over the case of jailed RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev.

Yazkuliyev, a correspondent for Radio Azatlyk, RFE/RL’s Turkmen-language service, was sentenced to five years in prison last week in what his supporters describe as punishment for his reporting.

The four senators who sent the letter are Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts), committee members Richard Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) and Benjamin Cardin (Democrat, Maryland), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, New York). Cardin is also co-chair of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

The letter was sent on October 12 to Meret Orazov, Ashgabat’s envoy to Washington, and calls on the Turkmen government to «investigate the allegations that Mr. Yazkuliyev did not receive a fair trial and take steps to ensure that that he receives a fair hearing and is accorded due process.»

Yazkuliyev was detained on September 27 in Turkmenistan’s Akhal province on charges of «influencing or abetting» an attempted suicide by a family member.

Yazkuliyev’s relatives sent a written appeal to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and the country’s head prosecutor in an attempt to retract false statements against him that they said they had been forced to make by secret police.

They have said the case is an effort to intimidate Yazkuliyev for his journalism activities and that they have «sufficient documentation to prove that [Yazkuliyev’s] case is politically motivated.»

His October 5 trial was held after business hours, behind closed doors, and without his lawyer present.

After his sentence was handed down, U.S. Representative Howard Berman (Democrat, California), the most senior Democrat on the House Committee On Foreign Affairs, told RFE/RL that Yazkuliyev’s conviction was an example of something «would not be tolerated» in a free society.

«I think the government of Turkmenistan has to understand that the people of Turkmenistan are entitled to freedom of expression and that for Turkmenistan to evolve into a truly just country, they have to develop democratic governance, respect different opinions, ensure freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. I have written the president of Turkmenistan six or seven months ago about this issue, apparently to no avail. The government seems to be [pursuing] the same kind of harassment and criminalization of conduct that in a free society would not be tolerated.»

RFE/RL President Steven Korn has called the case «an outrage.»

«This was a bogus trial and a predatory sentence that shows that Turkmenistan authorities respect no law and no standards when it comes to their treatment of the media. RFE/RL protests the sentence vigorously and calls on others in the international community to condemn it as well,» he said.

Yazkuliyev was one of the first journalists in Turkmenistan to cover deadly explosions at a weapons depot at Abadan in July, which official media initially ignored and then downplayed as a minor incident.

He was summoned by security officials and warned about his reporting on the incident.

Turkmenistan is consistently ranked by watchdog groups as one of the world’s most egregious violators of press freedom.

Press freedom and human rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Freedom House, have said Yazkuliyev’s sentence is in retaliation for his reporting.

The letter from the U.S. senators says Yazkuliyev’s case «adds to that of several other political prisoners of longstanding concern, including the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation’s Annakurban Amanklychev, Sapardurdy Khadzhiev, and civic activist Gulgeldy Annaniyazov.»

The Turkmen Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2006, RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova was tortured to death in a Turkmen prison shortly after her arrest, prompting international demands for an investigation that never took place.

written by Richard Solash in Washington with additional reporting by Muhammad Tahir

http://www.rferl.org/content/senators_appeal_yazkuliyev_case/24359153.html

Four senior U.S. senators, including the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have written to Turkmenistan’s ambassador in Washington to express «concern» over the case of jailed RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev.

Yazkuliyev, a correspondent for Radio Azatlyk, RFE/RL’s Turkmen-language service, was sentenced to five years in prison last week in what his supporters describe as punishment for his reporting.

The four senators who sent the letter are Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts), committee members Richard Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) and Benjamin Cardin (Democrat, Maryland), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, New York). Cardin is also co-chair of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

The letter was sent on October 12 to Meret Orazov, Ashgabat’s envoy to Washington, and calls on the Turkmen government to «investigate the allegations that Mr. Yazkuliyev did not receive a fair trial and take steps to ensure that that he receives a fair hearing and is accorded due process.»

Yazkuliyev was detained on September 27 in Turkmenistan’s Akhal province on charges of «influencing or abetting» an attempted suicide by a family member.

Yazkuliyev’s relatives sent a written appeal to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and the country’s head prosecutor in an attempt to retract false statements against him that they said they had been forced to make by secret police.

They have said the case is an effort to intimidate Yazkuliyev for his journalism activities and that they have «sufficient documentation to prove that [Yazkuliyev’s] case is politically motivated.»

His October 5 trial was held after business hours, behind closed doors, and without his lawyer present.

After his sentence was handed down, U.S. Representative Howard Berman (Democrat, California), the most senior Democrat on the House Committee On Foreign Affairs, told RFE/RL that Yazkuliyev’s conviction was an example of something «would not be tolerated» in a free society.

«I think the government of Turkmenistan has to understand that the people of Turkmenistan are entitled to freedom of expression and that for Turkmenistan to evolve into a truly just country, they have to develop democratic governance, respect different opinions, ensure freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. I have written the president of Turkmenistan six or seven months ago about this issue, apparently to no avail. The government seems to be [pursuing] the same kind of harassment and criminalization of conduct that in a free society would not be tolerated.»

RFE/RL President Steven Korn has called the case «an outrage.»

«This was a bogus trial and a predatory sentence that shows that Turkmenistan authorities respect no law and no standards when it comes to their treatment of the media. RFE/RL protests the sentence vigorously and calls on others in the international community to condemn it as well,» he said.

Yazkuliyev was one of the first journalists in Turkmenistan to cover deadly explosions at a weapons depot at Abadan in July, which official media initially ignored and then downplayed as a minor incident.

He was summoned by security officials and warned about his reporting on the incident.

Turkmenistan is consistently ranked by watchdog groups as one of the world’s most egregious violators of press freedom.

Press freedom and human rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Freedom House, have said Yazkuliyev’s sentence is in retaliation for his reporting.

The letter from the U.S. senators says Yazkuliyev’s case «adds to that of several other political prisoners of longstanding concern, including the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation’s Annakurban Amanklychev, Sapardurdy Khadzhiev, and civic activist Gulgeldy Annaniyazov.»

The Turkmen Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2006, RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova was tortured to death in a Turkmen prison shortly after her arrest, prompting international demands for an investigation that never took place.

written by Richard Solash in Washington with additional reporting by Muhammad Tahir

http://www.rferl.org/content/senators_appeal_yazkuliyev_case/24359153.html

KHUJAND, Tajikistan — A Tajik journalist who wrote articles critical of local authorities has told his trial he is not guilty of the charges against him and asked that he be released, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported.

Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov made the remarks in court in Khujand on October 13, a day before a verdict is expected in his trial on charges including libel, insulting public officials, extortion, and inciting regional hatred. The prosecutor has demanded a 16-year prison term.

Ismoilov is a correspondent in northern Sughd Province for the newspaper «Nuri Zindagi» (Light of Life).

The charges of libel, insult, and inciting hatred are connected to Ismoilov’s reports, in which he criticized alleged corruption among local authorities and a lack of transparency in the distribution of land in his native Asht district, among other topics.

In his final statement on October 13, he said he sought simply to have shortcomings rectified, and that he was detained for his activities as a journalist. He called on the court to acquit and release him.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this week called for Ismoilov’s immediate release.

«If journalists who criticize government officials face criminal charges, lengthy investigative detention, and punitive prison sentences, Tajikistan risks stifling public discourse,» the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a statement.

Local and international organizations that focus on journalism and human rights addressed an open letter to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in early September asking him to ensure that Ismoilov receives a fair trial.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_journalist_on_trial_asks_court_to_release_him/24358532.html

The leader of an unregistered Turkmen opposition party has called on President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to free an RFE/RL correspondent jailed last week, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reports.

Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev was jailed for five years on October 6 after being convicted of helping convince a relative to attempt suicide in a trial RFE/RL described as «bogus.»

Sazak Durdymuradov, the leader of the Bahbit (Advantage) party, told RFE/RL he has been in touch with Yazkuliyev’s family who told him the court case was fabricated.

Durdymuradov said if Berdymukhammedov truly aspires to have the title «Arkadag» (protector) then this is an opportunity for him to show he protects his people from false accusations and wrongful imprisonment.

Durdymuradov said there were serious violations during the investigation and trial process.

RFE/RL President Steve Korn has called the case against Yazkuliyev an «outrage» and the sentence «predatory.»

Rights groups say Yazkuliyev was convicted in retaliation for his independent reporting, including coverage of the deadly explosions at a weapons depot at Abadan, near Ashgabat, in July, which official media initially downplayed as a minor incident.

Durdymuradov has continued to campaign for greater rights in Turkmenistan despite having been forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital for two weeks in 2008.

Prior to his detention, Durdymuradov worked as a contributor for RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service and his release in July that year was conditioned on his signing a letter saying he would cease reporting for RFE/RL.

Durdymuradov says his Bahbit party has some 200 members, who prefer not to be named, and that Turkmenistan’s Justice Ministry has still not refused or accepted the party’s bid to be registered.

There is currently one registered political party in the country — the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, led by Berdymukhammedov.

http://www.rferl.org/content/turkmen_opposition_leader_calls_for_release_of_rferl_reporter/24355327.

KNIGHT FELLOWSHIPS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY

The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships is an ambitious program embracing innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Accomplished journalists from the U.S. and overseas spend a year at Stanford, absorbing knowledge, honing skills and developing ideas for the betterment of journalism. They set their own course, leveraging the resources of a great university, Silicon Valley and the widely diverse group of journalists in their fellowship class.

Fellows receive a stipend of $60,000, plus Stanford tuition and supplements for moving expenses, health insurance, books, housing and childcare. All program activities, and most classes are open to spouses and partners of Fellows.

What are we looking for?

We want journalists and journalism innovators who have already accomplished a lot and are ambitious to do more. Ideally, candidates will have at least five years of professional experience. Fellows receive a stipend of $60,000, plus Stanford tuition and supplements for moving expenses, health insurance, books, housing and child care. All program activities and most classes are open to spouses and partners of Fellows.

The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2011, for international applicants and Feb. 1, 2012, for U.S. applicants. For more information, visit our website: http://knight.stanford.edu.

http://knight.stanford.edu

Deadline: 19/10/11
Journalists can apply for a fellowship program.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Department of Politics and International Relations seek a candidate for a three-year postdoctoral position in media and democracy at the University of Oxford.

The successful candidate will have expertise in two of the following areas and will pursue advanced research in at least one of them:

Media and democratization
Media in post-authoritarian regimes
Media and democratic accountability
Media and political campaigns
Candidates should have either a degree in political science and significant experience and understanding of media/journalism empirical research and theory; or a degree in media/journalism studies and significant experience and understanding of political research and theory.

Applicants who need work visas will need to demonstrate that they have sufficient English language skills and that they have sufficient funds to maintain themselves and any dependents until they receive their first salary payment.

For more information, click here: http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/vacancies/career-development-fellow-in-media-and-democracy.html

http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/vacancies/career-development-fellow-in-media-and-democracy.ht

Held in solitary confinement for nearly a year, and facing 16 more years in prison, the case of Tajik newspaper reporter Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov shows how the country’s authorities deal with criticism.

Ismoilov is a reporter for «Nuri Zindagi,» a village newspaper with a circulation of 2,000, at best.

The charges against Ismoilov include extortion, criminal libel and insulting public officials, and inciting regional hatred. The verdict, initially expected in early October, has been postponed by a court in Tajikistan’s northern Sughd Province.

In the meantime, Ismoilov’s lawyer has come under pressure, too. A criminal case has been launched against Muhabbat Juraeva, charging her with abuse of office. She rejects the accusation.

So, what did Ismoilov do to justify being kept behind bars since November 2010 and to prompt prosecutors to ask for a 16-year prison sentence — punishment normally saved for crimes such as murder and rape?

The charges of libel, insult, and inciting hatred are connected to Ismoilov’s reports, in which he criticized alleged corruption among local authorities and a lack of transparency in the distribution of land in his native Asht district, among other topics.

He has been accused of extortion for allegedly receiving four planks of wood – worth less than $50 — from a relative who works for the local government.

Several witnesses have confirmed that the wood, which the local administration was no longer using, was, indeed, donated to the reporter. The relative has since retracted his statement but the charges haven’t been dropped.

The prosecutors have engaged the state committee on language to examine the tone of the reports to back their accusations. According to the committee’s findings, there are some words that could be categorized as «insulting.»

For instance, Ismoilov likened the hasty construction of the district prosecutors’ headquarters to Soviet-era projects of national importance. And he called a high-ranking local official a «commander of the construction battalion.»

But, even if there are two or three insulting words in his articles, «would you send a journalist behind bars for 16 years?» asks Dodkhudo Saimiddinov, the head of the language committee. «In our country, murderers get 15 years.»

The charges against Ismoilov have outraged his colleagues both in Tajikistan and outside the country, who say his case is aimed at sending a threatening message to all journalists in Tajikistan.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has called for Ismoilov’s immediate release.

«If journalists who criticize government officials face criminal charges, lengthy investigative detention, and punitive prison sentences, Tajikistan risks stifling public discourse,» the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a statement.

Like Ismoilov, another Sughd journalist, Urunboy Usmonov, a BBC reporter charged with having associations with the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir, is awaiting his verdict. Usmonov denies the charge.

«Unlike journalists in the capital and big cities, reporters in small provincial towns are alone and defenseless,» says Juma Mirzo, Ismoilov’s former colleague.

A harsh verdict in the Ismoilov case would have an «enormous chilling effect» on all journalists in Tajikistan, the OSCE says.

It would once again show that criticism of the authorities is not tolerated in Tajikistan. Not on any level. It’s as simple as that.

— Farangis Najibullah

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_reporter_free_speech_press_freedom/24354956.html

ASHGABAT — A Turkmen court has sentenced an RFE/RL correspondent to five years in jail after convicting him of encouraging a relative’s suicide attempt, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reports.

Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev went on trial on October 4 for allegedly urging a relative to attempt suicide, in a case his family says is retaliation for his journalistic activities.

The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was «dismayed and shocked» by the sentence against Yazkuliyev.

RSF said in a statement that «the reign of the arbitrary continues unchecked in Turkmenistan.»

He was one of the first journalists in Turkmenistan to cover deadly explosions at a weapons depot at Abadan near Ashgabat in July, which official media initially downplayed as a minor incident.

RSF called the charges against him «absurd» and said Yazkuliyev was being punished for his outspoken investigative reporting and his online blogs.

RFE/RL President Steven Korn called the case against Yazkuliyev «an outrage,» noting: «This was a bogus trial and a predatory sentence that shows that Turkmenistan authorities respect no law and no standards when it comes to their treatment of the media. RFE/RL protests the sentence vigorously and calls on others in the international community to condemn it as well.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/rights_group_denounces_sham_trial_against_rferl_journalist/24349776.htm