Freedom House says restrictive new laws and violence against journalists resulted in a global decline of press freedom during 2014, bringing the world’s press freedom to its lowest point in more than 10 years.

In a report released on April 29, the U.S.-based watchdog said press freedom declined significantly in 18 countries and territories during 2014 — with some of the worst declines in Azerbaijan, Serbia, and Iraq.

Freedom House said Belarus, Russian-annexed Crimea, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were among the world’s 10 worst-rated countries and territories for press freedom.

It said the worst in the Balkans was Macedonia, where press freedom has continued to decline during the past five years.

The report says Azerbaijan’s government was one of the worst offenders for using detentions and closures of media offices under security or emergency laws, with nine journalists in prison by December 1.

It noted the jailing later in December 2014 of investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova, as well of the closure of RFE/RL’s offices in Azerbaijan and the interrogation of RFE/RL employees there.

Click on map or here for a full interactive map of press freedom 

Freedom House said Russia’s media sector is increasingly owned by the state, by «private-sector cronies of the political leadership,» or by business interests that suppress content critical of the government.

Russia also was criticized for «more active and aggressive use of propaganda — often false or openly threatening — to warp the media environment and crowd out authentic journalism.»

The report said Russia’s «state-controlled national television stations broadcast nonstop campaigns of demonization directed at the internal opposition, neighboring countries whose polices have displeased Moscow, and the broader democratic world.»

It said Russian media played a major role in preparing the Russian public for war with Ukraine.

It also noted that a Russian law which took effect in August placed new controls on blogs and social media, requiring all websites with more than 3,000 visitors a day to register with state regulators as a «media outlet.»

Freedom House said that Ukraine,» facing a military invasion» by Russia, suspended the retransmission of at least 15 Russian television channels by cable operators.

It also noted that Lithuania, Latvia, and Moldova imposed suspensions or fines on Russian television stations for «incitement to war, disseminating historical inaccuracy, and lack of pluralism of opinions in news content.»

In Ukraine, the report said that in addition to the deaths of four journalists and violence associated with the separatist conflict in the east, one journalist was killed and at least 27 injured at the height of confrontations between protesters and police in Kyiv in February last year before the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Iraq’s poor record was linked to the seizure of vast swaths of territory in the north and west of the country by Islamic State militants.

Freedom House said Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region and Russian-annexed Crimea were «prime examples» of how reporters were deliberately barred by «repressive governments.»

The government of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was criticized for trying to curb reporting about floods that hit the country and for «increasingly hostile rhetoric and harassment» of independent journalists.

http://www.rferl.org/content/press-freedom-lowest-point-10-years/26984487.html

«The government of Turkmenistan has taken a decision to liquidate all privately owned TV and radio satellite dishes in the country» and «the main target of this campaign is Radio Azatlyk, the Turkmen-language service of Radio Liberty/Free Europe.»

That’s according to the Civic Solidarity Platform, an umbrella organization bringing together nearly 60 nongovernmental organizations from the United States and Eurasia.

Azatlyk knows about the campaign to demolish satellite dishes. It’s not the first time the Turkmen authorities have attempted to rid the country of satellite dishes, but this time the efforts seem more serious.

The Turkmen government has always preferred to have a monopoly on the dissemination of information inside Turkmenistan. Access to satellite dishes, which in some cases cost only some $100, has broken the grip Turkmen authorities have tried to keep on information, allowing citizens to watch or listen to programming from many sources, including Azatlyk.

But according to Civic Solidarity, this most recent decision by the authorities to rid the country of satellite dishes «is aimed at fully blocking access of the population of Turkmenistan to hundreds of independent international media outlets which are currently accessible in the country only though satellite dishes.»

In naming Azatlyk as the main target of the campaign, Civic Solidarity called the RFE/RL service «the only independent source of information about Turkmenistan and the world in the Turkmen language and is widely listened to in the country.»

Azatlyk has regularly reported on a wide variety of subjects affecting Turkmenistan today, from housing problems and long lines to purchase train tickets, to the problems of people being detained and imprisoned for demanding their basic rights be respected, or the deteriorating security situation along the country’s southern border with Afghanistan.

What these topics all have in common is that Turkmen state media will not report on them and the authorities would prefer these matters not be publicized.

Civic Solidarity noted Azatlyk’s broadcasts are «currently accessible to the Turkmen public through satellite dishes while other channels of information about Turkmenistan, including websites of human rights and dissident organizations as well as the website of Radio Azatlyk are blocked in Turkmenistan.»

Azatlyk is aware of the campaign and has learned the Turkmen government is offering options to satellite-dish owners.

The government will compensate the loss of satellite dishes with «cable TV packages» that would provide «entertainment channels produced by Russia, Turkey, and India,» none of which include news programs. The authorities have already said they reserve the right to cut off broadcasting at any time.

Another option for those losing their satellite dishes is to agree to have government-installed satellite dishes on their buildings, but that would leave subscribers with only state-approved channels.

It appears in some cases Azatlyk would still be accessible on some antennas but on others Azatlyk programing would not be available.

As has been true during previous campaigns to rid the country of satellite dishes, the official reason given is that the dishes are ugly blemishes on the grand architecture of Turkmenistan’s cities.

— Bruce Pannier

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international press rigths group, has included Azerbaijan and Iran on its list of the 10 most censored countries in the world.

The list is based on research into the government censorship tactics ranging from imprisonment and repressive laws to harassment of journalists and restrictions on Internet access.

Azerbaijan’s ranking as the fifth most repressive state for journalists, and Iran’s ranking as the seventh worst, were based on its record among the world’s worst jailers of journalists.

Eritrea and North Korea were named as the first and second most censored countries.

Other countries on the list include Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, China, Burma, and Cuba.

CPJ plans to release a full report on the listed countries on April 27.

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-iran-censorship-cpj-report/26970633.html

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the international community to press Azerbaijan to «release the critics it has thrown behind bars and end its crackdown» as it prepares to host a major sporting event.

HRW released a video on April 20 that shows prominent activists and journalists who have been detained in the months leading up to the first-ever European Games, which will bring more than 6,000 athletes to Baku from June 12-28.

«European leaders should make clear they will not be sending high-level delegations to the opening ceremonies unless people jailed for criticizing the government are freed and the government’s crackdown on independent groups and activists ends,» it said.

HRW said earlier in April that President Ilham Aliyev’s government had used a range of bogus criminal charges in the last year to arrest or imprison at least 35 human rights defenders, political and civil activists, journalists, and bloggers.

Among those rights groups say are jailed for political reasons are activist Leyla Yunus and her husband, Arif; Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor; human rights lawyer Intiqam Aliyev; and youth activist Rasul Cafarov.

In a statement on April 20, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, said that the «case of Leyla and Arif Yunus illustrates the pattern of repression that has emerged in Azerbaijan.»

He said that «human rights defenders are harassed through restrictive NGO legislation and selectively targeted with criminal prosecutions on charges that defy credibility.»

«The situation of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan is of great concern,» Muiznieks added.

«Reprisals, including judicial harassment, against critical voices in general, and those denouncing human rights violations in the country in particular, is a widespread phenomenon in Azerbaijan,» he concluded.

Several Western countries and rights groups have called for the European Games as well as a Formula One auto race planned for next year not to be held in Azerbaijan because of its widely criticized human rights records,

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, however, said on April 19 that the Azerbaijani Grand Prix was on track to take place as scheduled.

He said that there «doesn’t seem to be any big problem» in Azerbaijan.

The United States said last month that releasing jailed activists and journalists would demonstrate adherence to Azerbaijan’s «commitments to uphold the fundamental freedoms of all its citizens.»

A report by HRW said that in 2014 the Azerbaijani government «escalated repression against its critics, marking a dramatic deterioration in its already poor rights record.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/hrw-calls-for-pressure-on-azerbaijan-to-release-critics/26967524.html

HOMEL, Belarus — A Belarusian journalist contributing as a freelancer to the Poland-based Belsat television channel is being tried on suspicion of working without accreditation.

Kastus Zhukouski was summoned to a hearing in southeastern city of Homel on April 20.

The legal pressure comes after Zhukouski interviewed a resident in a nearby village regarding financial hardships faced by elderly citizens on April 12.

Belsat aired the interview on April 13.

Belsat TV is a Polish state-run satellite television channel that broadcasts into Belarus in the Belarusian and Russian languages, irritating authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government.

Zhukouski has been tried twice before over reports for Belsat TV.

On April 2, he was fined $375, and in December he was fined $65 for working without proper accreditation.

http://www.rferl.org/content/belarusian-journalist-faces-trial-for-working-with-no-accreditation/26967484.html

Giving newborns undesirable names in the hope that it will spare them from divine wrath has attracted the attention of Tajik authorities.

Among older generations, it is not uncommon in Tajikistan to see first names like Khoshok (Fodder), Sangak (Small Stone), Istad (Should Stay), or Pocho (Son-in-Law.)

The reasoning behind the unusual eponyms can be attributed to the superstition that giving a child an unflattering name will make them less desirable, and thus prevent God from taking them away.

Under proposed amendments to Tajikistan’s civil-registry law, such names are out. The Justice Ministry initiative singles out naming children after animals, products, and inanimate objects — and they are not the only ones.

In the latest round of a Tajik name game that in recent years has seen a push away from Russian and secular names, and the promotion of Persian-rooted and patriotic names, the Tajik authorities are also trying to purge divisive and overtly Islamic, foreign names.

The amendments counter the trend among Tajiks of adding Islamic and Arabic endings to their names, by stating that «adding suffixes — such as -mullah, -khalifa, -shaikh, -amir, and -sufi — which lead to divisions among people, should be banned.»

And authorities have apparently noticed that religious names such as Sumayah, Aisha, and Asiya, previously almost nonexistent in the country, have become the most popular names for baby girls.

Sumayah is the first martyr of Islam; Aisha is the name of one Prophet Muhammad’s wives; and Asiya is the name of a Muslim noblewoman mentioned in the Koran. All would be banned, as would Muhammad, Yusuf, and Abubakr for boys.

The authorities’ opposition to such names reflects their unease over the rising influence of Islam, which has led to bans on the hijab and the forced shaving of beards.

«If the amendments get approved, our offices would refuse to register babies with names that are Arabic or foreign to our culture,» said Jaloliddin Rahimov, deputy head of registry department at the Justice Ministry.

«Such parents will be offered a list of Tajik names at the registry office,» Rahimov said. «Their children will be registered and given birth certificates only after the parents give them appropriate names.»

The rising popularity of Islamic names followed a previous trend, begun in the 1980s, in which so-called pure Tajik or old Persian names became fashionable both for girls and boys.

That trend culminated with President Emomali Rahmon dropping the Russian suffix of -ov from his surname in 2007, leaving him with the more traditional «Rahmon.»

Thousands of others followed suit, de-Russifying their names and sometimes replacing the Russian endings with pure Tajik suffixes such as -zoda, -zod, or -i.

The latest proposal has not yet made it to parliament, but it has already ignited public debate.

Some swiftly condemned it as a violation of personal freedom.

«If the Justice Ministry tells people what names to choose for their children, or to drop suffixes from their names, it would amount to interference in people’s private lives and restriction of people’s liberties,» said prominent lawyer Faizinisso Vohidova.

«And why has the ministry decided that some suffixes create divisions among people?» she asked. «This proposal is ridiculous.»

Dushanbe resident Mullo-Abdul-Hamid, who gave only his first name, said that «the ministry’s proposal undermines people’s rights.»

Mullo-Abdul-Hamid, who was named after his grandfather, said he had no problem with its religious roots.

Islamic leaders have so far distanced themselves from the debate.

Jaloliddin Khomushi, a high-ranking official at the state-backed Islamic Center, said Islam encourages beautiful and appropriate names — regardless of their Persian or Arabic origins — and discourages names with ugly or unpleasant meanings.

It is not known when parliament will debate the draft amendments, but some Dushanbe residents claim registry offices have already begun to implement the proposed bans.

Abubakr Haidarshoev said a city registry office refused to issue birth certificate to his nephew because the officials deemed the baby’s name, Akbar, «foreign to Tajik culture.»

The newborn was eventually registered and given a birth certificate, but not before his parents changed his name to Mahmud.

Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondents Ganjina Ganj and Mirzonabi Kholiqzod

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-society-names/26966134.html

MOSCOW — The Russian Justice Ministry has added Transparency International Russia to its list of organizations designated as «foreign agents.»

The ministry’s announcement on April 7 brought the  number of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations listed as foreign agents to 50.

President Vladimir Putin signed a law in 2012 that requires NGOs that receive foreign funding and are deemed to be engaged in political activities to register as organizations «performing the functions of a foreign agent.»

Rights activists, Kremlin critics, and Western governments say the designation deliberately and unfairly suggests the groups are involved in espionage.

They see it as part of a campaign to silence dissent and rein in civil society during Putin’s third presidential term.

Also on April 7, a court in the Volga region city of Samara ordered a local NGO, the Ecological Training Center, to pay a 150,000 rubles ($2,750) fine for refusal to register as a foreign agent.

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-adds-transparency-internatuional-to-foreign-agents-list/26944865.html

ATajik man who was formerly a promising student at Russia’s prestigious Moscow State University (MGU) may have gone to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, his father has told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.

Nasim Nabotov, 28, is from Farkhor district in southwest Tajikistan. He disappeared on March 5 after buying an air ticket to Moscow.

His father, Abdulmajid Nabotov, told Radio Ozodi on March 27 that his son had previously been a student at MGU, enrolling in the economics faculty in 2008.

But by the time Nasim was in the second year of his degree course, he had become far more interested in religion than economics, his father said.

Abdulmajid Nabotov believes that, instead of devoting himself to his studies, his son had somehow become mixed up with various radical groups in Moscow.

As part of his newfound interest in Islam, Nasim started to attend mosque, his father remembered.

Eventually, Abdulmajid Nabotov decided to bring his son back to Tajikistan so that he could keep an eye on him, he told Radio Ozodi.

Nasim dropped out of his studies in the second year of his course and went home to his village in the Farkhor district. There, he helped his father with the family’s bakery business and even started a family, living along with his three children.

‘We Didn’t Recognize Him’

Although Nasim had been taken out of the immediate circle of his religious friends in Moscow, he retained an interest in Islam — and «jihad.»

«He would use the Internet a lot, and through that connection he came to the idea of jihad,» his father told Radio Ozodi.

When Abdulmajid Nabotov asked his son what he was doing on the Internet, Nasim said he was «learning Koran verses,» his father said.

«My son would talk about jihad all the time. I told him, «Son, you’re wrong here, you’re mistaken here. That is, I tried to stop him, but apparently it was all for nothing. I remember when I talked to him on the phone at the beginning of March, he went on again about jihad in Syria and I told him that it was very dangerous and that he didn’t know what he was talking about,» Abdulmajid Nabotov said.

A former classmate of Nasim’s told Radio Ozodi that the young man was unrecognizable when he came back from Moscow.

«He was a very educated man; he was distinguished from the rest. But when he returned from Moscow, we didn’t know him anymore. He talked about religion, and the different streams [of Islam]. He was somehow arrested by the police, but they didn’t find anything criminal so they let him go,» his classmate said.

Gone to Syria?

On March 5, Nasim went missing. Before he left, he didn’t say a word about any plans to his family.

His family later learned that the 28-year-old had bought an air ticket to Moscow, where he flew from Tajikistan’s Kulob airport.

A search by the Tajik authorities has so far failed to yield any information about what happened to Nasim, and his father, Abdulmajid Nabotov, is convinced that his son must have gone to Syria to join militants there.

The parents of another man from Farkhor district, 30-year-old Ubayda Naimov, told Radio Ozodi that the authorities told them that their son may also be in Syria. Naimov’s parents thought their son was a labor migrant in St. Petersburg, but he stopped calling home two months ago.

There is evidence to show that a common recruitment pathway for Tajiks and other Central Asian nationals is for IS to target labor migrants who have traveled to Russia to work.

If Nasim has joined militants in Syria after being radicalized in Moscow, his will apparently be the first reported case of a student being recruited while at university in the Russian capital.

Tajiks In Syria

Exact figures for the number of Tajiks fighting in Syria and Iraq are not known.

Russia’s Interfax news agency on April 1 quoted an anonymous source in the Tajik Interior Ministry as saying that at least 50 Tajiks have been killed fighting alongside IS, and that at least 300 Tajik nationals are currently in the ranks of the militants.

Radio Ozodi reported that the deaths of 60 Tajiks in Syria and Iraq has been officially confirmed. About 25 people from Tajikistan’s Kulob region are thought to be fighting alongside IS.

Edward Lemon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Exeter who tracks Tajik militants in Syria and Iraq, says he has found online evidence for 70 Tajik militants in Syria.

«But there are likely to be more who have traveled and whose existence has not been reported in the media. I think a figure of between 100 and 200 would be fairly accurate,» Lemon told RFE/RL last week.

Most Tajiks in Syria and Iraq are fighting alongside IS, Lemon says.

‘Please Come Home’

Abdulmajid Nabotov, whose son Nasim is thought to have joined IS in Syria, issued a heartfelt plea to the young man, asking him to come home.

«Nasim, my dear, wherever you are, please think about your parents. Jihad is nothing more than striving to improve your life. If you try to elevate your fatherland, that’s jihad, too. I’m asking you to come home. If you have really decided to wage jihad, then know that it is a mistake. You are being swindled; you’ve fallen into a trap. Please, come home,» Abdulmajid Nabotov said.

— Joanna Paraszczuk

http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic-state-tajikistan-/26933350.html

WASHINGTON — Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says the United States will «continue to advocate for free media and more open political systems» in Central Asia, a strategic region that lies between Russia, China, Afghanistan, and Iran.

In a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank on March 31 following a review of the U.S. strategy in Central Asia, Blinken said the United States will also «urge the release of people who are imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their political views or religious faith.»

Blinken said he was laying out a part of «the vision of our policy» in what he called «a region of enormous potential…that could act as an economic bridge from Istanbul to Shanghai and provide opportunities for our own businesses, technologies, and innovations to take root.»

He said the U.S. approach to the region will be based in part on the idea that the United States’ «own security is enhanced by a more stable, secure Central Asia that contributes to global efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism.»

He said such stability «can best be achieved if the nations of Central Asia are sovereign and independent countries, fully capable of securing their own borders, connected with each other and with the emerging economies of Asia, and benefiting from governments that are accountable to their citizens.»

Senior U.S. officials regularly say they are raising human rights issues with the governments in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, while saying a balanced approach is needed.

Rights advocates have accused the United States of engaging in a Faustian bargain that entails slighting human rights concerns in order to secure cooperation on counterterrorism and other security matters.

Blinken reiterated Washington’s view that U.S. efforts to boost trade in the region, including through Washington’s New Silk Road initiative, can be complementary to a parallel initiative by China to pour tens of billions of dollars into developing infrastructure in Central Asia.

«We don’t see China’s involvement in Central Asia in zero-sum terms,» he said.

Blinken stressed that the United States supports the right of governments in the region to forge their own economic and foreign policies.

He denounced «Russia’s actions on its periphery, including its violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine» and said Central Asian governments «understand the dangers posed by Russia better than most.»

Blinken added that the nations of Central Asia are «also feeling the impact of Russia’s economic weakness more than most.»

Russia’s economic troubles amid falling oil prices and Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s interference in Ukraine have had a ripple effect on Central Asian nations.

The decline in the value of the ruble has dented remittances from millions of Central Asian migrants working in Russia and put pressure local producers forced to compete against cheaper Russian goods.

«We understand that anxiety and we’re committed to leveraging our own economic tools to help Central Asia diversify their economies and interlink their markets,» Blinken said.

Blinken’s comments came after Richard Hoagland, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said «patient» diplomacy is more effective than sanctions or «public naming and shaming» in efforts to improve the records of Central Asian nations in areas like human rights.

«What tends to work better is to build relationships with likeminded senior officials in those countries … who can then advocate their own views to their leadership,» Hoagland said at a March 30 event at Georgetown University in Washington.

The five Central Asian governments have faced criticism from rights watchdogs and Western officials for alleged rights abuses.

A «patient, traditional, reality-based diplomacy does consistently, on a case-by-case basis, work in Central Asia» where issues like human rights and religious freedoms are concerned, Hoagland said.

Hoagland added that Washington is «consistently engaged» with the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan — «to improve their track records on human rights with the clear recognition that effecting change in this area will be difficult and will definitely require long-term engagement.»

«Progress takes place slowly, and we must convince each government that reforms are in its national interests,» he added.

http://www.rferl.org/content/us-policy-central-asia-hoagland/26931565.html