ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Jailed Kazakh journalist Ramazan Esergepov has been named a recipient of a Hellman-Hammett Grant for 2011, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

Esergepov’s wife, Raushan Esergepova, told RFE/RL about the award on June 28.

Esergepov, the founder and chief editor of the Almaty-based Alma-Ata Info, was sentenced in August 2009 to three years in prison for revealing state secrets in his newspaper in 2008.

He protested the verdict, saying it was politically motivated. His requests for parole and transfer from a prison to a labor colony were denied. Esergepov’s newspaper was closed down after his arrest.

The Hellman-Hammett Grants are administered by Human Rights Watch and awarded to writers and journalists who have been subjected to political persecution and are in financial need.

Esergepov is the third Kazakh to receive such a grant.

http://www.rferl.org/content/jailed_kazakh_journalist_awarded_grant_by_rights_group/24249472.html

KHUJAND, Tajikistan — The lawyer for detained BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov says she expects the charge of belonging to a banned Islamic organization will be dropped by Tajik authorities, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

Lawyer Fayziniso Vohidova told RFE/RL on June 28 that she thinks Usmonov will only be charged with failing to inform officials that he met with members of the banned Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir and took leaflets and other literature from them.

She said she thinks the charge of membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir will be dropped.

Vohidova stressed that Usmonov — a correspondent for the BBC’s Uzbek Service who was arrested by police on June 13 — was legally accredited in Tajikistan and complied with all legal requirements.

She noted that under Tajik law, a journalist is entitled to remain silent in order to protect his sources.

Hamid Ismoilov, the head of the BBC’s Central Asian Service, met briefly with Usmonov in Khujand on June 27.

Ismoilov told RFE/RL that Usmonov appeared depressed. He rejected the charges against him and insists he did not exceed his responsibilities as a journalist.

Ismoilov hopes Usmonov — who has worked for the BBC in Tajikistan for 10 years — will be released soon and all charges against him dropped.

Nuriddin Qarshiboev, the head of the National Association of Tajikistan’s Independent Media, told RFE/RL that it is good news that the authorities will drop the charge of membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Qarshiboev said he hopes the investigation will be conducted in line with international standards and all accusations against Usmonov will soon be dismissed.

Usmonov’s detention on June 13 elicited statements of concern from human rights organizations and from the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.

Hungary raised the issue of Usmonov’s arrest on June 23 at the weekly meeting in Vienna of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Nuriddin Shamsov, who heads the Tajik delegation to the OSCE, said that according to the Tajik Interior Ministry, Usmanov joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2009 and has been actively involved in propaganda, distributing extremist materials, recruiting new members through social networks, and calling for the overthrow of the government.

Shamsov added that Usmonov can be held legally in detention for two months after the issue of the arrest warrant. He said officials deny that Usmonov’s detention was connected with his professional activities.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_officials_may_lessen_charges_against_detained_bbc_reporter/242495

DUSHANBE — The head of Tajikistan’s Council of Islamic Scholars says a special Islamic education program for children is being planned to quell criticism of a draft law banning children from entering a mosque, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

Saidmukarram Abdulqodirzoda said he hopes that once the program — which is being developed by the Education Ministry and religious institutions — is approved, Islamic courses for children over the age of 7 will be opened in all main mosques, and any child will be able to participate.

The proposed new program is intended to counter international criticism of the Parental Responsibility Law proposed in December by President Emomali Rahmon.

That law bans children under the age of 18 from attending regular Friday Prayers in mosques, and holds parents of underage children caught attending Friday Prayers legally responsible for allowing them to do so.

The controversial law allows children and teenagers who study at religious schools to attend mosques freely and join religious associations. All other teenagers may pray at mosques only on religious festivals and at funerals.

Prominent Tajik religious leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda has criticized the law, telling RFE/RL it is «openly against the will of God.»

Tajik Ambassador to the OSCE Nuriddin Shamsov told a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on June 23 that the draft law was published for nationwide discussion.

Some 30,000 people have submitted comments and 4,000 have endorsed the draft unequivocally, RFE/RL reports. Not a single change was made to the draft bill before the lower chamber of parliament passed it on June 15. The upper chamber has not yet voted on it and it also needs Rahmon’s signature to become law.

Shamsov stressed on June 23, in response to a statement by the U.S. delegation to the OSCE, that Tajikistan still faces serious security challenges from its southern neighbors, including terrorism and religious extremism.

He said the Tajik government seeks to uphold secular values and protect the younger generation from falling prey to violent Islamic extremism and radicalization.

Shamsov said that is why the proposed law banning young people from attending Friday Prayers is being considered — as a means to «protect children» from what he called «the growing religious pressure» they have been subjected to in recent years.

28http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_children_mosque_ban_islamic_courses/24248140.html

TASHKENT — Two Uzbek journalists have been temporarily detained and fined after trying to begin a hunger strike outside the presidential palace in the capital to protest media censorship, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reports.

The detentions and punishment came as Uzbekistan officially marked Day of Media Workers on June 27.

A Tashkent district court fined Malohat Eshonqulova and Saodat Omonova 2.94 million soms (about $1,500) after their detention for holding an unauthorized protest earlier in the day.

Eshonqulova and Omonova were fired in December from the state television channel Yoshlar (Youth), three days after staging a protest on Tashkent’s main square against media censorship.

They filed a lawsuit against the management of Yoshlar, but on May 31 a district court for civil cases ruled in favor of the state TV channel, saying that the dismissal of the two journalists was done legally. The women have filed an appeal against that verdict.

Eshonqulova told RFE/RL that since May 2 they have addressed 56 letters to Uzbek President Islam Karimov detailing censorship at Yoshlar and requesting a meeting with him.

She said on June 27 that the she and Omonova held up placards during their protest the same day that read, «Dear Islam Karimov, please grant us an audience,» and, «We declare a hunger strike.»

Eshonqulova said that after two minutes they were approached by four men who told them to get into a car that took them to the Yakkasaroy police department in Tashkent.

She said they were forced to write an explanation of their actions for the police before being taken to a court and fined.

http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbek_female_journalists_fined_protesting_censorship/24248378.html

Deadline:09/01/12
Liberty Media

Journalists who cover society and economics can apply for an award.

The Media for Liberty Award is open to journalists who work on societal issues, economies, political structures and cultures that illustrate their pursuit of a free market environment and civil liberties uninfluenced by government agenda.

The most outstanding entry receives a US$50,000 prize.

Sample topics include but are not limited to: government involvement in private enterprise, dependence on foreign oil, access to healthcare, sovereign debt, basic goods (food, housing, healthcare) becoming prohibitively expensive for middle-class consumers and the cost of globalization from a societal, cultural, economic perspective.

Entries must be published or transmitted via print or electronic media between January 1 and December 31, 2011. Eligible media outlets must be generally recognized in their markets and accessible to a broad audience in the United States.

Prize sponsors Liberty Media seek to acknowledge and encourage media contributions that explore the relationship between economic and political liberty.

For more information, click here: http://www.libertymedia.com/media-for-liberty-award.aspx

http://ijnet.org/opportunities/media-liberty-journalism-award-open-worldwide

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic has voiced concern about a resolution passed by Kyrgyzstan’s parliament last week calling for the banning of a news website.

Mijatovic said a ban on the fergana.ru website and other similar recent measures could potentially limit media pluralism in the country.

In its resolution last week, parliament accused fergana.ru of «igniting ethnic hatred» between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz and said it should be blocked.

Mijatovic said such legal initiatives «will negatively affect media coverage of important issues» just before a Kyrgyzstan presidential election due this autumn.

http://www.rferl.org/content/osce_urges_kyrgyzstan_parliament_reconsider_restrictions_media/24241707

Dushanbe, 20 June 2011 — European Union Embassies are deeply concerned by reports that a BBC journalist, Urunboi Usmonov, was detained on 13 June and maltreated by security authorities in Khujand. We understand that he has subsequently been charged as a member of “Hizb-ut-Tahrir”. We call on the Tajik authorities to fully investigate the claims of maltreatment of Mr Usmonov. We are also concerned that due legal process has not been correctly adhered to since Mr Usmonov was detained.

The European Union continue to stress the importance of media freedom in Tajikistan; and whilst recognising the efforts of the Tajik Government in ensuring stability and security within the country, would continue to urge the Tajik authorities to adhere to transparent international judicial standards.

The European Union, composed of 27 Member States, is the world’s biggest aid donor. The total value of EU assistance disbursed to Tajikistan since 1992 is over ?500 million.

For further information you may contact Ms. Mahbuba Abdullaeva in the Delegation of the European Union in Tajikistan at tel: +992 (37) 2217407 or e-mail: Mahbuba.Abdullaeva@eeas.europa.eu

www.deltjk.ec.europa.eu

The lawyer for a BBC reporter in Tajikistan charged with membership in a banned Islamic radical group says investigators are denying her access to her client. Colleagues say the veteran journalist was arrested to silence his critical reporting, marking the latest attack on independent media in Tajikistan.

Fayziniso Vohidova says she has not been allowed to see BBC Uzbek Service correspondent Urinboy Usmonov, 59, since he disappeared on June 13. Two days later, investigators took him home to search for evidence. Family members present say Usmonov appears to have been beaten.
Vohidova told EurasiaNet.org on June 20 that Usmonov has been officially charged with inciting religious and racial hatred, participating in an organized criminal group, and extremism. She explained that authorities can legally keep him in custody for up to 18 months before a trial, while the investigation is underway.
Authorities in Khujand say Usmonov is a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a group that seeks to establish an Islamic state in Central Asia, but which is avowedly non-violent. “For a long time Usmonov maintained contacts with party representatives in Tajikistan and abroad; he actively participated in the preparation and dissemination of printed materials promoting Hizb-ut-Tahrir’s ideas on the forcible seizure of power and changing of the constitutional regime,” said a June 18 statement from the State Security Service, Tajikistan’s KGB-successor agency.
Usmonov’s colleagues and media rights activists insist he was arrested because of his critical voice. For years he has reported on the authorities’ efforts to silence expressions of Islam. Tajikistan has jailed over 500 people for membership in Hizb-ut-Tahrir in the past ten years, according to a count published by the AFP news agency; 40 have already been convicted this year. Media rights activists say Usmonov’s reporting would easily explain any radical literature that might have been found on him.
“There is little doubt that Usmonov was arrested because of his journalistic activities. Using the fight against extremism in order to crack down on dissidents is standard practice in Tajikistan,” said Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based watchdog, in a June 17 statement.
“People who have received leaflets should not be confused with the activists who distribute them. Being aware of press releases and statements is an integral part of a journalist’s work,” RSF added.
American and British diplomats in Dushanbe have also voiced concern.
Usmonov, an ethnic Uzbek, has also reported critically on Dushanbe’s controversial plans to build the world’s tallest hydroelectric dam, Rogun, a move that has aggravated relations with neighboring Uzbekistan and seen the Uzbek minority face increasing pressure inside Tajikistan.
“The law enforcement authorities once again have justified their poor image by holding a citizen in custody without providing him access to legal assistance,” Nuriddin Karshibaev, chairman of the Tajik National Association of Independent Media (NANSMIT), told EurasiaNet.org.
“NANSMIT demands a thorough investigation of Usmonov’s arrest and detention. As for his alleged affiliation to an illicit extremist movement, an inquiry must be conducted according to both national legislation and international practices,” Karshibaev added.
A police colonel in Dushanbe agrees that authorities have made a mistake by not granting Usmonov access to counsel, but underscored that Usmonov’s affiliation with a foreign organization does not make him above the law.
“Usmonov’s professional affiliation to BBC, the famous international news outlet, does not automatically ensure him immunity. The law enforcement authorities have made a serious mistake failing or not willing to provide him with a lawyer. But only an investigation can demonstrate the journalist’s involvement in extremist activities or otherwise prove his innocence,” the colonel told EurasiaNet.org on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.
Besides frequent and financially debilitating libel lawsuits brought by government officials against independent media, physical harassment of journalists is common in Tajikistan.
Since November 2010, journalist Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov has been held in detention in Khujand, ostensibly for criticizing law enforcement bodies and exposing corruption. In February, Hikmatulloh Saifullohzoda, editor of the opposition Najot newspaper and the press secretary for the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, was brutally attacked outside his home. He connected the “assassination attempt” with his work.

Editor’s note:
Konstantin Parshin is a freelance writer based in Tajikistan

Konstantin Parshin, EurasiaNet.org

Источник: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63704

BISHKEK — The Kyrgyz parliament has adopted a resolution calling for a news website to be banned, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz and Uzbek services report.

The parliament deputies said on June 17 that fergana.ru «ignites ethnic hatred» among Uzbeks and Kyrgyz and therefore should be blocked. Deputies officially recommended that the Prosecutor-General’s Office take measures to try to prevent access to the website in Kyrgyzstan within three months.

The decision was based on a suggestion by the parliamentary commission on the deadly ethnic clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the southern Osh and Jalal-Abad regions last year.

Danill Kislov, the chief editor of the Russia-based website, told RFE/RL that Kyrgyzstan would not be the first Central Asian country to ban fergana.ru. He said Uzbek officials did the same in 2005 after the site’s coverage of the massacre of protesters in the Uzbek city of Andijon by security forces.

Kyrgyz deputy Tursunbai Bakir Uulu, who has previously served as the country’s ombudsman, told RFE/RL that the decision to block the site was correct. He said in order to prevent deadly ethnic clashes similar to those that took place last year — when more than 400 people were killed — it is necessary to block the site.

Bakir Uulu added that he recommended to parliament that two other websites in the country — dizel.kz and parus.kz — also be blocked as they «try to create tensions between ethnic groups in the country.»

Bishkek-based journalist Akmat Alagushev told RFE/RL that the parliament’s decision to pass the resolution was incorrect.

He said those kinds of decisions mean «the introduction of censorship in Kyrgyzstan.» Alagushev added that it is not even technically possible to fully block a website from readers.

Media rights activist Tattu Mambetalieva told RFE/RL that in taking such action the parliament «has made a wonderful advertisement for fergana.ru.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyz_parliament_recommends_website_be_/24238951.html

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS/ REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES

PRESS RELEASE/ COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE

17.06.2011

English: http://en.rsf.org/tajikistan-bbc-world-service-reporter-held-in-17-06-2011,40479.html

Français: http://fr.rsf.org/tadjikistan-un-correspondant-de-la-bbc-detenu-17-06-2011,40477.html

TAJIKISTAN: BBC World Service reporter held in northwestern city

Reporters Without Borders is very concerned to learn that Urinboy Usmonov, a reporter for the BBC World Service’s Uzbek-language service, is being held in a police station in the northwestern city of Khujand for allegedly belonging to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a non-violent Islamist movement that is banned throughout Central Asia.

“We call on the Tajik police and judicial authorities to clarify the nature of Usmonov’s detention and to produce evidence of the allegations being made against him,” Reporters Without Borders said. “So far, it is the police who have behaved illegally in this case.”

Usmonov’s family began looking for him when he went missing on the evening of 13 June. They were surprised to see police officers escort him to his home the next day. The police searched the police and announced that he was under arrest. Family members said they were signs that he had been mistreated.

He has been denied the right to see his lawyer, Fayziniso Vokhidova, since his arrest. Vokhidova said a prosecutor told her that Usmonov had declined the use of her services. But such a refusal can only be made in writing, and in the presence of a lawyer. Usmonov has not been allowed to see his family either.

“Usmonov has diabetes,” Reporters Without Borders was told by Khayrullo Ubaydullaev, the head of the BBC’s Uzbek-language service. “As well as a lawyer, it is vital that he has access to his medical treatment.”

The interior ministry claimed that Usmonov joined Hizb-ut-Tahrir in 2009 and that he had “promoted” it in his reports and on online social networks. But in a statement, the BBC said he had covered the trials of Hizb-ut-Tahrir activists at its request and that it had no reason to believe the allegations.

Alisher Sidikov, the head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Uzbek service and a former colleague of Usmonov, told Reporters Without Borders that Usmonov often covered Hizb-ut-Tahrir and other sensitive subjects, such as border problems and the very controversial Rogun dam project, the source of considerable tension between Tajikistan and neighbouring Uzbekistan.

“Usmonov has nothing in common with an extremist and his stories are never biased,” Sidikov said. “But he is always very critical of the Tajik and Uzbek authorities. He is a very independent person and I cannot imagine him submitting to the discipline of a clandestine movement. He is also the president of the Uzbek section of the Union of Tajik Writers. A clandestine organization would never allow the representative of an official body to become a member. For all these reasons, he is the last person I would suspect of belonging to this organization.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “There is little doubt that Usmonov was arrested because of his journalistic activities. “Using the fight against extremism in order to crack down on dissidents is standard practice in Tajikistan. In the absence of hard evidence, the authorities must free him unconditionally at once.

“As far as we know, nothing was taken from his home. Nonetheless, we warn the police against trying to criminalize the mere possession of Hizb-ut-Tahrir leaflets. Such abuses are common throughout Central Asia and they were used as grounds for making outrageous charges against RFE/RL reporter Alisher Saipov, who was murdered in Kyrgyzstan in 2007. People who have received leaflets should not be confused with the activists who distribute them. Being aware of press releases and statements is an integral part of a journalist’s work.”

Independent media and religious groups have suffered of late as a result of harsher repression by President Rahmon’s autocratic regime. When clashes intensified last autumn in Rasht Valley, many media were accused of “complicity with the terrorists” just for reporting the clashes. A total of 150 Hizb-ut-Tahrir activists were arrested last year. Sharifjon Yokubov, said to be its leader in the northwestern Sughd region, was arrested on 14 June.

Some Reporters Without Borders contacts said Usmonov’s arrest could also be an attempt to intimidate the Uzbek community in Tajikistan, which is increasing being made to pay for a diplomatic dispute between Dushanbe and Tashkent.

http://en.rsf.org/tajikistan-bbc-world-service-reporter-held-in-17-06-2011,40479.html