BAKU — The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan has criticized what it calls «disgusting personal attacks» against Khadija Ismayilova, an RFE/RL investigative journalist and talk-show host in Baku.

In a statement, the embassy urged Azerbaijan’s government to complete «a legitimate investigation» into the intimidation, blackmail, and harassment of Ismayilova.

It said the «ongoing, targeted harassment» of Ismayilova was «appalling and must stop.»

It also said a legitimate investigation would demonstrate «Azerbaijan is concerned about reporters’ rights and safety, upholding the rule of law, and promoting an ethical and robust media environment» during the 2013 presidential election campaign.

Ismayilova has been the target of a personal smear campaign by pro-government media and websites in Azerbaijan since March 2012, shortly after her investigative reports exposed high-level government corruption in Baku.

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-ismayilova-harassment-us/25089769.html

DUSHANBE — A Tajik court has handed down short-term jail sentences to family members and supporters of a detained opposition figure a day after they organized a rally calling for his freedom. 

Four sons and a son-in-law of Zayd Saidov were found guilty of undermining public order during the rally, and were sentenced to five days in prison each by a Dushanbe district court on August 29.

More than 50 people took part in the Dushanbe rally on August 28.

Saidov, a wealthy businessman and opposition figure, was arrested on May 19 on bribery, rape, and polygamy charges.

He denies the indictments and says he is being persecuted for his decision to set up a new political party.

Presenting his party’s program in April, Saidov had criticized the government for «inefficient reforms» and «widespread corruption.»

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — An independent newspaper in Kazakhstan has lost its appeal against its suspension. 

On August 22, the Almaty City Court upheld the decision to halt the operations of «Pravdivaya gazeta» (The Truthful Newspaper) for three months.

Earlier this month, the Almaty Administrative Court suspended the newspaper, saying that the periodical’s editors had failed to correctly report its circulation numbers.

The weekly newspaper’s editors say the court’s decision is politically motivated.

In April, officers from the city’s Interior Policies Department confiscated the newspaper’s first issue.

The authorities cited a «failure to clearly show exact publication dates in registration documents.»

Also in April, the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Astana for failing to respect political, media, and religious freedoms.

Kazakh authorities banned dozens of opposition and independent media outlets in December for carrying what Kazakh authorities deemed «extremist content.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-gazeta-newspaper-suspended/25082848.html

London-based rights group Amnesty International is expressing concern over the fate of a Tajik citizen reportedly detained in Uzbekistan.

In a statement issued on August 21, the group said that Abdumavlon Abdurakhmonov, 38, has been detained without access to his family since April.

His family fears that he is at risk of being subjected to torture and other abuse.

Abdurakhmonov’s ex-wife in Uzbekistan called his relatives in Tajikistan after he visited her and their child in April and said Uzbek security officers had taken him away without any explanation.

Tajik officials later received an official statement from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry denying that Abdurakhmonov had been detained.

The Tajikistan’s ombudsman has not received a reply from his Uzbek counterpart to his letter requesting assistance in the matter.

http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan-tajik-citizen-detained-amnesty/25082830.html

Acorrespondent with Kazakhstan’s independent «Svoboda Slova» («Freedom of Speech») newspaper has been severely beaten by unknown attackers in the northwestern city of Aqtobe. 

The Almaty-based media rights organization, Adil Soz (A Just Word), announced on August 21 that Igor Larra was assaulted by four men who beat him with a metal rod.

Larra said he sustained wounds to his scalp and lost consciousness after the attack late on August 20.

He said the assailants did not take his wallet or any of his journalistic equipment.

Larra believes the attack is connected with his recent reports criticizing the Aqtobe region’s governor.

He managed to reach police station after being beaten, and he reported the incident.

Larra said the police promised to contact him on August 21 and arrange a medical examination, but this did not materialize.

Based on reporting by adilsoz.kz and Interfax

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-journalist-beaten/25082020.html

Georgian authorities have released opposition Tajik journalist Dodojon Atovulloev. 

Atovulloev was detained on August 20 upon arrving at Tbilisi’s airport.

Atovulloev told RFE/RL by telephone on August 21 that he was released several hours after his detention and is currently back in Germany, where he has political asylum.

Atovulloev said that, after he arrived in Georgia from the Czech Republic, he was told that he was wanted by Tajik authorities, who accuse him of extremism and terrorism.

The Paris-based international media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, urged Georgian authorities to immediately release Atovulloev, calling the request by Tajik authorities politically motivated.

Atovulloev is well-known for his reports that are critical of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and members of his family.

Last month, he was denied entry at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where he also arrived from Prague.

http://www.rferl.org/content/georgia-tajik-journalist-released-/25081773.html

By Heather Maher

The Kremlin-funded network Russia Today (RT) abruptly pulled an American journalist off the air for talking about the Russian government’s antigay laws instead of the topic at hand. 

The drama unfolded as James Kirchick, a gay journalist who has written for «The New Republic,» and «The Washington Post,» among other publications (includingRFE/RL), was being interviewed from Stockholm by the Moscow-based television station for a panel discussion about U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning.

When the host turned to Kirchick for his thoughts, he pulled on a pair of rainbow-colored suspenders and quoted the American playwright and actor Harvey Fierstein as saying, «Being silent in the face of evil is something we can’t do.»

«You know, being here on a Kremlin-funded propaganda network, I’m going to wear my gay-pride suspenders and I’m going to speak out against the horrific antigay legislation that Vladimir Putin has signed into law, that was passed unanimously by the Russian Duma, that criminalizes homosexual propaganda, that effectively makes it illegal for people to talk about homosexuality in public,» Kirchick says.

The puzzled RT host responds, «Yes..?» and Kirchick continues, saying, «We’ve seen a spate of violent attacks on gay people…» before the host jumps in again to suggest they get back to the discussion about Manning.

«I’m not really interested in talking about Bradley Manning. I’m interested in talking about the horrific environment of homophobia in Russia right now,» Kirchick says. «And to let the Russian gay people know that they have friends and allies and solidarity from people all over the world, and that we’re not going to be silent in the face of this horrific repression that is perpetrated by your paymasters, by Vladimir Putin. That’s what I’m here to talk about.»

A Russian law aimed at blocking «homosexual propaganda» that went into effect last month «bars the public discussion of gay rights and relationships anywhere children might hear it.»

For more than two minutes, Kirchick dominated the live broadcast, at one point telling the sputtering anchorwoman, «You have 24 hours a day to lie about America, I am going to tell the truth with my two minutes.»

He also got in a swipe at the hostile media environment in Russia, saying he doesn’t know how employees of RT can sleep at night, «knowing how journalists in Russia are routinely harassed, tortured, and in some cases, killed by the Russian government.»

Reached afterward by RFE/RL at the Stockholm airport where he was about to board a plane to Tallinn, Kirchick said he normally didn’t agree to appear on networks like RT, which he called «propaganda channels of dictatorial governments.»

«But I thought, because of what’s going on in Russia right now, that this would be a really good way to draw attention to this cause,» he explained.

No More Taxi Ride

Kirchick said that after RT producers in Moscow abruptly cut off his audio feed, he headed to the airport in a prearranged taxi that the station agreed to pay for as part of his appearance agreement.

«So about halfway down the highway on the way to the airport, my driver gets a phone call from his boss, saying that the car ride has been canceled and that he’ll have to drop me off on the side of the road,» Kirchick said.

«And I told him that I would pick up the tab. But at the end, actually, at the airport, he said that the ride was free, so maybe we have some anti-Putin activists in the Swedish taxi company.»

He said RT didn’t explain their actions but did call him to tell him his ride was being canceled. Kirchick said he used «adult language and told them where to put it.»

RT bureaus in Moscow and Washington did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment.

The journalist said he planned to keep speaking out on against Russia’s antigay law, and added that he would «encourage anyone who goes on RT to hijack the forum» and do the same.

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-today-kirchick-gay-law/25082432.html

Reporters Without Borders calls on the Georgian authorities to quickly release Dodojon Atovulloyev, a well-known Tajik journalist and government opponent who was detained shortly after landing at Tbilisi airport at 3:40 p.m. today. Atovulloyev says the Georgian police arrested him on an Interpol warrant.

“Under no circumstances should Atovulloyev be handed over to the Tajik authorities,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Germany has granted him refugee status. His enforced return to Tajikistan would violate the international convention on refugee rights.

“The Tajik government has for years been using all kinds of means to get its hands on this journalist. The arrest warrant that it apparently sent to Interpol is just its latest scheme.”

A leading opponent of President Emomali Rakhmon’s government, Atovulloyev is also the founder and editor of the Tajik monthly Charogi Ruz(Daylight), independent Tajikistan’s first privately-owned newspaper, which is well-known for its fierce criticism of the regime.

Atovulloyev fled Tajikistan in 2001 after receiving death threats and being the repeated target of judicial proceedings.

Persecution of the government’s opponents in exile has been growing in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for November. Umarali Quvvatov was briefly detained in Dubai last December. Former Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullajanov was arrested in Kiev in February, while Atovulloyev survived a murder attempt in Moscow in January 2012.

Last month, Atovulloyev was denied entry to Russia, where Charogi Ruz is now produced. The media recently reported that pressure was being put on his 83-year-old mother in an attempt to force him to return to Tajikistan.

Atovulloyev nowadays hosts a weekly programme on K+, an independent Central Asian TV station, which has raised his profile in Tajikistan even more.

“My K+ programme is really irritating the Rakhmon government,” he told Reporters Without Borders by phone. “I am currently at the airport but I am being treated well. I cannot complain about the Georgian police, who are just doing their duty as regards Georgia’s membership of Interpol.”

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based international media-rights group, has called on the Georgian authorities to quickly release a prominent Tajik opposition journalist. 

Dodojon Atovulloev told RFE/RL by phone that he was stopped at passport control on August 20 and is being held in Tbilisi’s airport after arriving from the Czech Republic.

Atovulloev said he was told he was detained at the request of Tajik authorities, who accuse him of extremism and terrorism.

Atovulloev is well-known for his reports that are critical of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and members of his family.

Reporters Without Borders said on August 20 the Tajik authorities’ request to arrest him was politically motivated.

Last month, Atovulloev was denied entry at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where he also arrived from Prague.

Atovulloev, who has lived in the Russian capital for the last 20 years, survived an apparent assassination attempt last year.

He was stabbed several times in a Moscow restaurant.

He believes the attack was connected with his journalistic work.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan—journalist-atovulloev-held-tbilisi/25080471.html