Tajik authorities said they are investigating the severe beating of a Tajik journalist and political activist.

The attack on Daler Sharifov, a moderator on a popular talk show on Tajikistan’s state TV channel, «Safina,» occurred late on the evening of May 7.

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service met with Sharifov and his relatives in a hospital in the capital, Dushanbe, where he is receiving treatment.

Sharifov’s friend, who did not reveal his name, said one unknown man restrained him while the other attacked Sharifov.

Last week, in an interview with RFE/RL, Sharifov said he and his followers had created a movement called Qadam ba Qadam, or Step by Step.

He said the aim of the movement, which has not been officially registered, was to counter Tajikistan’s regional and tribal politics, which he said was the source of all the country’s problems.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_activist_severely_beaten/24574301.html

DUSHANBE — A European Union delegation led by Belgium’s foreign minister has met with Tajik officials in Dushanbe to discuss Tajik and Central Asian regional issues.

Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told reporters after the talks on May 4 that the sides discussed regional integration and security issues — including the situation in Tajikistan’s neighbor, Afghanistan, and Dushanbe’s relations with Uzbekistan.

Reynders stressed the importance of relations between Tajikistan and neighboring Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan in April suspended gas deliveries to Tajikistan for two weeks, causing major disruptions in the operation of several Tajik plants and factories.

Dushanbe and Tashkent have had strained diplomatic ties during the past two decades over a variety of issues, including energy and water resources, and transit routes.

«We have discussed about the situation among Tajikistan and the different neighbor countries. And it was very interesting to us to listen to the comments of the president about the relations with Russia, with Iran, with Uzbekistan, with China, with Pakistan and Turkmenistan,» Reynders said.

«It is quite interesting to us to prepare many discussions on a bilateral level between Belgium and those countries.»

Speaking about regional security and integration, Reynders also said the EU was ready to work together with Tajikistan to establish a stable situation in Afghanistan.

«We will work in the future together to organize, if it is possible, the stabilization of Afghanistan,» he said. «If it is possible also to have a better integration in the region.»

Reynders said his talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon also touched on the possibility of international observers monitoring Tajikistan’s presidential election scheduled for November 2013.

«We will follow also the process inside Tajikistan until the next presidential election. And I was very pleased to listen to the president saying that it could be possible to organize the presence of observers from the international community during this new pair of elections,» Reynders said.

«It is important to us to have the capacity to build a very good collaboration on a bilateral level, but also among the Tajik authorities and the European Union.»

Tajik authorities have permitted Western observers to monitor previous elections in the country.

But international observers have said recent Tajik votes have not been free or fair because of measures restricting the development of genuine opposition movements, and state control of mass media.

http://www.rferl.org/content/eu_in_tajikistan_focuses_on_regional_integration/24570025.html

The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on Tajik authorities to put an end to torture.

In a statement, the watchdog urged Tajikistan’s leadership to ensure thorough, impartial, and independent investigations into all allegations of torture during detention.

Amnesty expressed particular concern over reports about delays in launching an investigation into the alleged torture of a 31-year-old Tajik citizen.

Amnesty International’s researcher on Tajikistan, Rachel Bugler, told RFE/RL that her organization is concerned that while Tajik authorities pledge to stop the torture of suspects in custody to the international community, more reports emerge of alleged beatings and torture by police of individuals who were not proven guilty.

Bugler said a system in which citizens do not trust their own police force cannot function.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_torture/24570228.html

On World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO has awarded its Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, who spent four years in prison on charges related to his work.

The UN cultural agency is highlighting this annual event aimed at celebrating media freedom by hosting a three-day conference in Tunisia, the country where the first Arab Spring protests took place.

The gathering will focus on the role of the media as a catalyst for change.

This year’s World Press Freedom Day comes at a time when media watchdogs say independent journalism is increasingly under attack around the world.

Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists both issued reports in the run-up to the May 3 commemoration warning of a dwindling number of free-press outlets and a rise in attacks on private media and Internet censorship.

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijani_journalist_honored_on_world_pres_freedom_day/24568601.html

DUSHANBE – Tajikistan’s Supreme Court has banned an Islamist organization, Jamaat Ansarullah, ruling that it is an extremist group.

The ruling came after the organization last year issued several videos calling on Tajik citizens to embrace jihad and urging citizens to take action to support Islamic rule.

A commander of an illegal armed group killed recently by Tajik security forces has been described by authorities as an activist of the organization.

Tajik authorities have banned more than 10 Islamic groups and organizations since 2000, including Al-Qaida, the Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jamaat Tablig and Hizb-ut Tahrir.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_islamic_groups_banned/24568348.html

A ritual press conference at the UN produced some unexpected hilarity as journalists grilling the Azerbaijani ambassador on press censorship found out he didn’t know that it was World Press Freedom Day.

Ambassador and current Security Council President Agshin Mehdiyev quickly covered up the gaffe, claiming that Azerbaijan doesn’t need to mark World Press Day on May 3, due to its unrestricted media coverage.

A journalist at the briefing, where Mehdiyev was laying out the Security Council agenda for the month, asked if Azerbaijan was celebrating World Press Freedom Day.

After a pause, Deputy Permanent Representative Tofig Musayev jumped in: «We don’t have any public holiday or any specific date celebrating it, but we know that, if there is a, if I’m not mistaken, there is an international day of freedom of expression….»

Several journalists said in unison, «It’s today.»

Musayev faltered, then said, «Oh. It’s today, by the way. Sorry.»

Mehdiyev jumped in: «Congratulations! As we have a free press we don’t need to specify a day,» he said, before having a good belly laugh.

On May 2, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named Azerbaijan as a «runner-up» to their list of the 10 most heavily censored countries in the world.

The CPJ report states that Azerbaijan earned this status because «there are no foreign or independent broadcasters on the airwaves, and the few journalists who work on independent newspapers or websites are subject to intimidation tactics, including imprisonment on fabricated charges.»

Mehdiyev told journalists he did not deny that some journalists were imprisoned, but claimed their reporting was not the crime.

«Let us not mix the freedom of expression with freedom of responsibility,» he said. «They’re different things. I believe that we don’t have people imprisoned for their profession or their political views.»

Mehdiyev added: «In prison, you know, there’s hundreds of people. You can find anyone; engineer, journalist, [or] mechanic.»

He also offered to give journalists links to online opposition and independent news sites in the country that are not subject to censorship. Local radio stations in Azerbaijan, however, are prohibited from rebroadcasting RFE/RL’s reporting.

On April 17, Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev won the prestigious UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize. Press-freedom advocate Fatullayev was jailed in 2007 on charges of libel and terrorism, and later drug-related offenses. He was released last year.

Media rights groups condemned his arrest and accused the authorities of targeting the journalist, who was the editor of two newspapers critical of the government.

— Courtney Brooks

Courtney Brooks, RFE/RL

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan_has_free_media_who_needs_a_special_day/24569251.html

U.S. Representative Howard Berman has expressed concern over increasing reports of intimidation and violence toward journalists in Azerbaijan.

In a letter to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on World Press Freedom Day, the congressman said recent «incidents have highlighted long-held concerns regarding the ability to express one’s thoughts and opinions freely» in Azerbaijan.

Berman (Democrat-California) said five journalists were beaten up by security personnel of a state oil company as they were reporting on the demolition of houses that the company said were illegally built on its land.

Berman also noted that RFE/RL Azerbaijani Service correspondent Khadija Ismayilova was the focus of a campaign of intimidation and coercion due to her investigative journalism.

Berman urged Baku to prosecute those responsible for the cases, and to protect journalists against future threats.

http://www.rferl.org/content/us_congressman_alarmed_at_azerbaijan_press_situation/24569158.html

A leading journalism watchdog group has listed authorities in Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Iran as among the world’s leading media censors.

In a new report released on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said all three countries are guilty of seeking to cut off access to information by muzzling journalists and blocking websites.

Robert Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy director, said authorities in Iran, unnerved by several years of rising public unrest, have imposed one of the world’s harshest Internet censorship regimes and jailed dozens of journalists.

«Iran uses imprisonment of journalists to quash critical news coverage,» Mahoney said. «Reformist publications are often banned and their staff sent to prison. Satellite broadcasts and millions of websites are blocked. Sophisticated techniques are used to detect interference with anticensorship software.»

Iran was not among the worst media censors when the CPJ last published its list in 2006 but has since risen to become the world’s fourth-worst censor, behind only Eritrea, North Korea, and Syria.

In Uzbekistan, where the regime of longtime leader Islam Karimov has maintained a stranglehold on the press, the CPJ says all independent media outlets have been effectively eliminated.

Mahoney also notes that five reporters are currently serving prolonged prison terms in the country, which ranks sixth on the CPJ list.

These include Muhammad Bekjannov and Yusuf Ruzimuradov of the «Erk» opposition newspaper, who were imprisoned in 1999 and have now been jailed longer than any other reporters worldwide.

«No independent media outlets are based in Uzbekistan,» Mahoney says. «Access to some outside websites and even key words are blocked. Five reporters are serving extended prison terms. Foreign journalists are excluded.»

Delivering The Death Blow

CPJ’s censorship list ranks countries according to website access, journalists’ freedom of movement, and the presence of privately owned media.

In Belarus — 10th place on the CPJ list — the controversial 2010 reelection of authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka was seen as delivering the death blow to what remained of the country’s free press.

Mahoney says even before the elections and the massive public protests that followed, Lukashenka’s regime had routinely subjected journalists to criminal prosecution and failed to investigate the suspicious deaths of at least three journalists.

These include Aleh Byabenin, the founder of the outspoken Charter 97 website, who was found hanged at his family’s dacha in 2010.

«The government of Belarus has raided newsrooms, confiscated equipment, imprisoned journalists, and banned reporters from traveling,» Mahoney says. «The remnants of its independent press operate underground. Independent websites are blocked and access to the Internet requires identification.»

Other countries on the CPJ’s top 10 censorship list include Equatorial Guinea, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba. Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and China were listed among the runners-up.

The CPJ report comes one day after a second watchdog group, Freedom House, gave a grim assessment of the state of the media worldwide, saying the percentage of people with access to a free press had fallen to its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

In a separate statement, the Iraq-based Journalism Freedoms Observatory said pressure on Iraqi journalists was on the rise, with a marked increase in the number of arbitrary arrests and violence targeting reporters.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan_iran_belarus_media_censors/24567209.html

Europe’s largest association of national broadcasters says a top Azerbaijani official has pledged that his government will probe accusations of abuses against journalists.

Ali Hasanov, who heads President Ilham Aliyev’s political department, told the European Broadcast Union (EBU) during a daylong closed meeting on May 2 in Geneva, that the authorities would fully investigate «alleged cases of jailed and mistreated journalists.»

A statement from EBU after the meeting said Hasanov also agreed for the government to change legislation «to reduce defamation to a civil, and not a criminal, offense.»

Hasanov was speaking as the country prepares to host the Eurovision Song Contest.

Azerbaijan is to host the glitzy televised competition on May 22, 24, and 26.

With reporting by AFP

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan_official_pledges_to_investigate_abuses_against_journalists/2

A leading journalism watchdog group has listed authorities in Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Iran as among the world’s leading media censors.

In a new report released on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said all three countries are guilty of seeking to cut off access to information by muzzling journalists and blocking websites.

Robert Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy director, said authorities in Iran, unnerved by several years of rising public unrest, have imposed one of the world’s harshest Internet censorship regimes and jailed dozens of journalists.

«Iran uses imprisonment of journalists to quash critical news coverage,» Mahoney said. «Reformist publications are often banned and their staff sent to prison. Satellite broadcasts and millions of websites are blocked. Sophisticated techniques are used to detect interference with anticensorship software.»

Iran was not among the worst media censors when the CPJ last published its list in 2006 but has since risen to become the world’s fourth-worst censor, behind only Eritrea, North Korea, and Syria.

In Uzbekistan, where the regime of longtime leader Islam Karimov has maintained a stranglehold on the press, the CPJ says all independent media outlets have been effectively eliminated.

Mahoney also notes that five reporters are currently serving prolonged prison terms in the country, which ranks sixth on the CPJ list.

These include Muhammad Bekjannov and Yusuf Ruzimuradov of the «Erk» opposition newspaper, who were imprisoned in 1999 and have now been jailed longer than any other reporters worldwide.

«No independent media outlets are based in Uzbekistan,» Mahoney says. «Access to some outside websites and even key words are blocked. Five reporters are serving extended prison terms. Foreign journalists are excluded.»

Delivering The Death Blow

CPJ’s censorship list ranks countries according to website access, journalists’ freedom of movement, and the presence of privately owned media.

In Belarus — 10th place on the CPJ list — the controversial 2010 reelection of authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka was seen as delivering the death blow to what remained of the country’s free press.

Mahoney says even before the elections and the massive public protests that followed, Lukashenka’s regime had routinely subjected journalists to criminal prosecution and failed to investigate the suspicious deaths of at least three journalists.

These include Aleh Byabenin, the founder of the outspoken Charter 97 website, who was found hanged at his family’s dacha in 2010.

«The government of Belarus has raided newsrooms, confiscated equipment, imprisoned journalists, and banned reporters from traveling,» Mahoney says. «The remnants of its independent press operate underground. Independent websites are blocked and access to the Internet requires identification.»

Other countries on the CPJ’s top 10 censorship list include Equatorial Guinea, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba. Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and China were listed among the runners-up.

The CPJ report comes one day after a second watchdog group, Freedom House, gave a grim assessment of the state of the media worldwide, saying the percentage of people with access to a free press had fallen to its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

In a separate statement, the Iraq-based Journalism Freedoms Observatory said pressure on Iraqi journalists was on the rise, with a marked increase in the number of arbitrary arrests and violence targeting reporters.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan_iran_belarus_media_censors/24567209.html