DUSHANBE — A Tajik journalists’ organization has awarded Hikmatulloh Sayfullohzoda a special prize for «journalistic bravery» on World Press Freedom Day, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

The Media-Alliance gave the award to Sayfullohzoda, editor in chief of the weekly «Najot,» founded by the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, on May 3.

Sayfullohzoda was beaten by unknown attackers on February 8 and spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from his injuries. No suspects have been arrested in his case.

A special award from the Media-Alliance was given to Ramziya Mirzobekova, a correspondent for the independent weekly «Asia Plus» who is being sued by Deputy Interior Minister Anvar Taghoymurodov for defamation.

In a show of support for Mirzobekova, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe chose her to attend a World Press Freedom Day event in New York on May 3. World Press Freedom Day is sponsored by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural organization.

In statement released on Press Freedom Day, U.S. Ambassador Ken Gross said Washington is concerned by the continued pressure on Tajik journalists and said the United States hopes the «Tajik government will recognize that the independent media plays a vital role in a healthy, democratic society.»

Meanwhile, Mansur Sayfiddinov, media adviser to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, said the government rejects the recently released report by Freedom House that describes Tajikistan’s media environment as «not free.»

Sayfiddinov told RFE/RL that the several independent media outlets that exist in the country are greater in number than the official press outlets and said they are free to criticize the government.

But Tajik journalists say independent media suffered a big setback in recent months after officials banned a number of newspapers and websites for three months due to «security reasons.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_press_freedom/24090874.html

As the Internet has increased the free flow of information worldwide, oppressive governments have become adept at using online tools to advance their own agendas.

That is the conclusion of a report titled «The 10 Tools Of Online Oppressors,» released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on May 2.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Danny O’Brien, CPJ’s Internet advocacy coordinator and the report’s author, calls the trend «the darker side» of the Internet. He adds that countries that suppress traditional media also tend to be those seeking to suppress the free flow of information online.

«There’s a very strong match between the sort of freedoms the people have on the Internet and their corresponding press freedom,» O’Brien says. «Online freedoms tend to trail slightly press freedoms, which means that if press freedoms contract in a country — it’s only a matter of time before Internet freedoms also contract.»

Some tactics employed by authoritarian governments are crude and simple, like shutting down all Internet traffic — as deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak did briefly during the final days of his rule.

Others are more sophisticated, like the use of «denial-of-service attacks» in which an Internet server is flooded with a barrage of communication requests preventing it from functioning properly.

Many websites are banned in Iran.And as technology develops, O’Brien says, governments are resorting to ever-more stealthy methods. In China, for example, state monitoring agencies are targeting investigative journalists with spyware sent via e-mail.

«They use names and facts that the journalists know about. They pretend to be from someone they know,» O’Brien says. «And inside those e-mails are targeted pieces of software that can invade and take over those journalists’ computers, spy on what they’re doing, and then relay that to third parties.»

Iranian Regime Learns Quickly

Countries actively deploying online tools to suppress Internet freedom include China, Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. But O’Brien says Iran provides the most flagrant example.

During the contested 2009 presidential election, the Iranian government was widely ridiculed for its lack of skill in using the Internet as protesters deftly used Twitter and Facebook to organize antigovernment demonstrations.

But the authorities in Tehran quickly recovered. «In Iran the government very quickly learned that the Internet was a force for opposition protests and independent media but it could be quickly switched around,» O’Brien says. «And now they have a very strong grip on the Iranian Internet.»

Iran and China, he says, have invested considerable sums to upgrade their online infrastructure and have hired additional personnel to monitor the Internet.

Tehran also recently began requiring all websites in Iran to be registered with the Ministry of Culture. Thousands of websites are banned in Iran.

The authorities also use pricing to restrict online access, with the fees for high-speed Internet connections beyond the means of the average Iranian.

Stealth Censorship

In Russia, Belarus, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, the authorities have increased their online monitoring activities and have sought to inhibit the distribution of news and information.

Governments in these regions are also using the Internet to spy on journalists and to incapacitate news websites not controlled by the state. They are also monitoring and disrupting blogs, chat rooms, and online forums that have, until recently, been free of such surveillance.

CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator, Nina Ognianova, says the authorities are also using cybercrime legislation against independent media sites. Such methods are reminiscent of the use of defamation suits against traditional journalists. They have also become increasingly deft at blocking websites.

«This kind of more insidious — not as direct — censorship has actually proven more effective in muzzling independent voices,» Ognianova says. «When we’re talking about newer forms of censorship, we’re talking about untraceable, intermittent blocking of selected websites. That intermittent blocking is done usually around sensitive political events such as elections.»

Governments usually deny involvement when websites are blocked, citing things beyond their control, like hackers or technical glitches. «Because it’s not traceable or easily traceable, or easily proven — it is highly effective, it is bound to be adopted by other regimes worldwide,» Ognianova says.

O’Brien says smart phones, which are becoming more widely available, are the next target for authoritarian governments as they seek to suppress online freedom and control citizens’ access to information.

«These phones give activists and journalists incredible power: video and upload and reporting from the world’s trouble spots. But it also means that everybody in those countries is effectively carrying a tracking device that can monitor where they are and perhaps even spy on them,» O’Brien says.

«So I think the real big fight between Internet online press freedom and these Internet oppressors is going to be management to keep control of the mobile-phone world.»

Nikola Krastev, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

http://www.rferl.org/content/watchdog_says_governments_better_at_suppressing_online_press_freedom/16

Press freedom worldwide has dropped to its lowest point in more than 10 years, with only one in six people now able to access free and independent media.

The democratic watchdog group Freedom House discovered that sobering statistic while researching its latest annual report, which it is releasing in Washington today, the eve of World Press Freedom Day.

The report, «Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence,» documents what the group calls «significant declines in press freedom» over the past year in several countries, including Egypt, Hungary, Mexico, Turkey, and Ukraine.

It names the Top 10 worst countries for free media — defined as where the press can operate independently and does not face pressure or interference from outside forces — as Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Myanmar, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, and North Korea.

In these states, Freedom House says, «independent media are either nonexistent or barely able to operate, the press acts as a mouthpiece for the regime, citizens’ access to unbiased information is severely limited, and dissent is crushed through imprisonment, torture, and other forms of repression.»

A total of 63 countries were rated «not free» in 2010, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan.

The press is only «partly free» in 65 countries, including Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Of the 196 countries and territories assessed during 2010, just 68 were rated «free.»

Key Trends

In its report, the group identified key trends in the conditions for press freedom around the world.

WORST OFFENDERS
Belarus
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Iran
Myanmar
Cuba
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Libya
North Korea
First, partly democratic and authoritarian countries are increasingly misusing «licensing and regulatory frameworks as a key method of control.» Researchers found that in Russia, for example, denial or suspension of broadcast licenses and the shuttering of media outlets on fabricated grounds is one of the Kremlin’s favorite ways to quash unpopular points of view.

Freedom House also found that authoritarian governments have increased their efforts to control how news is disseminated. Recognizing that information is now being passed via social networking websites, mobile phones, and satellite television, regimes are taking steps to block broadcasting transmission signals — as Iranian authorities have done — and access to websites like Facebook, which Pakistan did briefly and which China has done for much longer.

The group also found many incidents of journalists censoring their own reports or deciding to leave their countries because they fear attacks or harassment. This happened «everywhere from conflict zones to struggling democracies with a weak rule of law,» Freedom House researchers said, noting that it was especially prevalent in Iraq, Pakistan, Mexico, and Indonesia.

Outside Pressures

But even in established democracies, media freedom is under threat, the group found. In places more associated with democracy than oppression — India and Israel, Italy and Hungary — Freedom House documented outside pressures that it said are eroding the ability of the press to operate freely and independently.

In the region encompassing Central and Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States, the press watchdog group says a majority of people — 56 percent — live in media environments that are «not free.» Twenty-six percent live in «partly free» media environments, and 18 percent live in countries where the press is rated «free.»

The group also noted some significant developments in that region.

First, press conditions declined last year overall in Central and Eastern Europe, where the environment for media has generally been favorable and improving.

Second, there was progress in unexpected places. Moldova experienced what the group called a «dramatic opening,» and Georgia and Kyrgyzstan each benefitted from «smaller positive steps» that aided media freedom.

«Kyrgyzstan, although there was a lot of political ferment last year with the change of government and the serious outbreak of ethnic violence, there was a positive reform of the public broadcasting law, there was a decrease in libel suits against journalists, and there were some other positive trends that we saw,» says report editor Karin Karlekar.

«So Kyrgyzstan actually improved, and we hope that under the new government things will continue to improve in Kyrgyzstan. It’s actually a relatively bright spot in the region compared to its neighbors, which, as I said, rank among the worst performers worldwide.»

But Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia remain countries of concern, and the group documented significant negative trends in Ukraine and Hungary, which last year passed a controversial media law that gives the country’s media authority the power to monitor and impose fines on the media for violating «public interest, public morals, or order.»

INDIVIDUAL COUNTRY SUMMARIES

Turkmenistan’s media environment worsened owing to the shutdown of a major mobile-phone service provider, which cut off many residents from outside sources of information, and Iran suffered further declines as a result of blocked satellite television and Internet services.

Journalists in Uzbekistan faced additional repercussions for their work, including a spate of criminal libel prosecutions.

Iraq’s score worsened slightly because the government issued restrictive media guidelines and created a special court to try journalists. Moreover, additional journalists were assassinated, attacked, and jailed without charge, and parts of the country became more dangerous for reporters to work in.

Iran suffered further backsliding in 2010 due to the government’s imposition of additional blocks on the Internet and satellite television, and its decision to restrict funding for antigovernment publications.

The media environment in Russia, which serves as a model and patron for a number of neighboring countries, is marked by the use of a pliant judiciary to prosecute independent journalists; increased self-censorship by reporters; impunity for the physical harassment and murder of journalists; and continued state control or influence over almost all media outlets.

In Azerbaijan, the state and ruling party dominate the media landscape, and independent journalists and bloggers continue to face legal and physical harassment for expressing dissenting views. In 2010, Azerbaijani officials openly disregarded repeated orders from the European Court of Human Rights to release Eynulla Fatullayev, a wrongfully imprisoned journalist.

Despite the Kazakh government’s promises to enact reforms as a condition of its chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010, conditions in Kazakhstan also deteriorated. A spate of libel suits were filed against journalists and authorities implemented a new law designed to increase controls over the Internet.

In one of the year’s largest numerical jumps, Moldova’s score rose dramatically, and was upgraded from «not free» to «partly free» to reflect the new ruling coalition’s steps to increase legal protections for journalists’ rights and reform the regulatory framework. In addition, management at the state broadcaster was professionalized, new private broadcast outlets began operating, and officially sanctioned legal harassment of journalists declined substantially.

Significant gains were noted in Georgia due to an improved political environment that led to a reduction in legal and physical harassment of journalists, fewer instances of official censorship, and more balanced coverage by the public broadcaster.

Despite an outbreak of serious ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, the country’s score improved to reflect a lack of libel prosecutions and a new public-service broadcasting law. In addition, the interim government, which took power after the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiev in April, lifted bans on RFE/RL and several websites and newspapers.

Ukraine, which has consistently been one of the best performers in its sub-region in recent years, saw an erosion of media freedom in 2010. After pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych took office as president in February, broadcast frequencies were withdrawn from critical outlets and extralegal harassment of journalists increased, leading to greater self-censorship.

By Heather Maher, RFE/RL

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/press_freedom_worldwide_freedom_house/16799961.html

On behalf of the U.S. Embassy, I want to express my congratulations to the people of Tajikistan on World Press Freedom Day. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects freedom of the press, an essential element of a democratic society. To maintain a healthy society, private citizens must be free to express and hear differing opinions and views. Today the U.S. Embassy will launch an initiative to promote journalism for youth throughout Tajikistan. The Embassy will facilitate training that will introduce secondary school students to journalism and allow them to write and publish articles online.

It is also my pleasure to announce that the Embassy has selected Asia Plus journalist Ramziya Mirzobekova to participate in the World Press Freedom Day tour in New York City and Washington, D.C. Mrs. Mirzobekova wrote “Investigation or Inquisition,” an article that documented the case of Usmon Boboyev, a Sughd resident who allegedly died while being interrogated. We believe that it is critical for government officials to vigorously investigate alleged cases of torture and not punish journalists and newspapers who report on the subject. While in the United States, Mrs. Mirzobekova will meet with journalists from all over the world and will interview high-level officials from the White House, State Department, United Nations, and NGOs working on press freedom.

We support media freedom around the world. In Tajikistan, we are concerned about the continued detention of Asht journalist Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov, the ongoing lawsuits against Paykon, and the recent suit against Imruz News journalist Mirzomurod Bozor. We are watching developments in these cases closely and hope that our friends in the Tajik government will recognize that independent media plays a vital role in a healthy, democratic society.

On behalf of President Obama, I reaffirm the United States’ ongoing commitment to media freedom in Tajikistan. The U.S. Embassy works in partnership with the Government of Tajikistan, non-governmental organizations, and members of the media to promote a free and independent media. We have observed time and again that instability results not from too much freedom, but too little freedom. Airing of differences makes a country stronger and is the first step towards building a consensus.

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/

3 May 2011

When governments repress their people and shield themselves from scrutiny, press freedom is among the most powerful vehicles for exposing misdeeds and upholding public trust.

When people face discrimination and marginalization, access to media can give them voice and create a shared awareness of their plight.

And in an era of pressing global challenges, the free exchange of information and ideas through the media can connect people and countries in networks of common cause.

World Press Freedom Day has its roots in the African journalists who, in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of media restrictions in Eastern Europe, sought similar advances on their continent. They worked with UNESCO to organize the 1991 seminar in Namibia that produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on free and independent media, which in turn inspired the UN General Assembly two years later to proclaim this observance.

Today it is the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East mobilizing for their democratic rights and freedoms — and doing so with a heavy and creative reliance on the Internet and social media to help spur change in their societies.

The theme of this year’s observance, “New Frontiers, New Barriers,” highlights this dramatically changed global media landscape. New media and tools such as cell phones continue to empower individuals, enrich news-gathering and illuminate once-largely-hidden workings of government, business and industry.

Yet alongside these benefits stand old challenges such as the use of media to disseminate hatred and incite violence. There are also undeniable new barriers being imposed by States, including cyber-surveillance, digital harassment and censorship on the Internet. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least six journalists who worked primarily online were killed in 2010. And in 2008, for the first time, more “online reporters,” were in jail than those working in traditional media.

On World Press Freedom Day, let us remember the journalists, editors and other media professionals who have been killed for their reporting. And let us honour their memory by pursuing justice. The impunity that often follows such murders suggests a disturbing lack of official concern for the protection of journalists, and outright contempt for the vital role they play. Many other journalists languish in jail simply for doing their jobs.

On this Day, as we mark the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, let us also pledge to bridge the digital divide, so that all people can benefit from access to and use of new media and communication technologies.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the right of all people to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. Let us reaffirm our commitment to this bedrock principle of democracy, development and peace.

In April 2011 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 24 reports. Eleven of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; nine reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and four reports describe conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.

I. POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY DEFINING THE FACTUAL SITUATION IN THE MEDIA

1. Public speeches and statements of superior officials defining the factual situation in the mass media

April 7
Sitora Sherova, deputy chair of Khatlon province

Speaking at a media briefing on 7 April, deputy head of the Khatlon province administration Sitora Sherova said that the authorities decided to arrange monthly meetings with journalists. The administration plans to enhance access to information for the media to tackle social and economic problems more effectively.

April 20
Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan

“The mass media are seen in the society as an efficient tool and a means for new thinking. They play an important role in the process of democratization and development”, — said the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon in his annual message to the parliament.

The president indicated the growth in the number of media in recent years. “In 1991, there were 131 printing outlets, and only 4 of them were private. There was only one state information agency. At present, there are 404 newspapers and magazines, out of which 160 are state-owned and 250 – private. Out of the eight registered news agencies, seven are private, i.e. non-governmental. This is a positive phenomenon in the process of creation and development of the civil society. At present, there are 44 TV and radio channels, out of which 28 broadcasting media are private”, — said the president.

April 29
Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan

Speaking at the session of the Tajik Public Council, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon expressed concern about the global media which “constantly write about somebody’s weddings forgetting about the problems requiring a close attention of journalists and the public”.

“Some journalists do not notice the problems of climate change on the Planet, neither do they see the tragedy in Japan, the drought, the growing food and oil prices; they publish reports about weddings of princes and princesses on the front pages of their outlets”, — he said.

2. Factual situation in the media

April 11
Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders denounced as “illegal and absurd” the efforts of the Tajik government to get dissident journalist Dodojon Atovulloev forcefully returned to Tajikistan from his exile in Russia and Germany and called on these two governments to protect him.
The state prosecutor in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, sent an extradition request to the Russian authorities today for the journalist and opposition leader, who is a political refugee in Germany (living in Hamburg) and currently in Moscow.
“The request is absurd,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Since he obtained political asylum in Germany in 2002, Tajikistan and Russia cannot legally touch him. We hope the Russian authorities, in accordance with international law and as they have done before, will reject the request.”
“A political refugee can under no circumstances be sent back to his country of origin and the Tajik request for this to be done, in violation of basic international law, is very worrying,” it said.
Atovulloev is founder and editor of the opposition monthly Charogi Ruz (Daylight), the first privately-owned publication set up after independence in 1991 and a strong critic of the regime. He was forced to flee abroad in 2001 after getting death threats and being accused of insulting the president and supposedly “inciting national, racial and religious hatred.” The newspaper is now based in Moscow after its Dushanbe offices were ransacked.
Family members in Tajikistan were imprisoned for several weeks and death threats to Atovulloev continued. He was arrested at Moscow airport in July 2001 and only an energetic campaign by human rights groups prevented him from being sent back to Dushanbe.
The charges against him were initially dropped, but the newspaper continued its criticism and Atovulloev set up an opposition party, ’Vatandor’, in 2007. New charges of insulting the president and “public appeals for violent overthrow of the constitutional order” were laid against him in 2008 and are the basis of the extradition request announced by prosecutor-general Sherhon Salimzoda today.
Press freedom shrank in Tajikistan last year and the authorities are now very keen to silence Atovulloev, who Salimzoda’s predecessor, Bobojon Bobohonov, called a “news terrorist” in 2008. While media outlets mentioning armed clashes in the country’s Rasht Valley last September were clamped down on, Atovulloev called the incidents “a return to civil war.”

April 11
The US Department of State

The US Department of State has published its annual report on human rights in the world where Tajikistan is reckoned among authoritarian states.

According to Radio Liberty, the authors of the report stress that the President Emomali Rakhmon and his adherents (natives of the same region) dominate in the political life of the country.

The authors indicate numerous cases of limitation of the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion, as well as corruption in all spheres, which impedes economic and social transformation and development.

The report also indicates accusations by the Tajik Minister of Defense Sherali Khairullaev against the media. The Minister accused journalists of aiding terrorist during the military operation in Rasht last autumn.

Besides that, the report indicates the judicial pressure of the Tajik authorities against the media.

3. Amendments to the legislation and new draft laws aggravating the media environment

April 6
Najot weekly, Party of Islamic Renaissance, Dushanbe

Certain Tajik journalists and media experts consider that the new media draft law does not have any essential amendments. The Najot weekly, the printing body of the Tajik Party of Islamic Renaissance (PIRT) (#14, 06.04.2011) applied to media experts with a question: “Will the new media law ensure freedom of speech and independence of the media?”

Professor of the Tajik National University Jovid Mukim says that the new draft law is a copy of the existing law with “reshuffled articles and provisions”. “Certain articles have double meaning”, — he added.

Nuriddin Karshibaev, chairman of NANSMIT said that the draft law has been under discussion for more than a year; the law-makers have considered recommendations from the media community and legal experts.

4. Journalists protecting their civil and professional rights

April 5
All media, Dushanbe

On 5-6 April, the Union of Tajik Journalists held a seminar on the issues of legal linguistic expertise “Judicial regulation of linguistic conflicts in the media”.

The purpose of the seminar is to ensure social protection of journalists and editing boards, development of the legal basis for media activities, strengthening of creative contacts between journalists and linguistic experts regarding legal actions on protection of honor and dignity.

April 5
All media, Kurgan-Tube, Khatlon province

On 5 April, the Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT) held a training session in the city of Kurgan-Tube, Khatlon province on the topic “Legal and ethical bases for media activities in Tajikistan”. The session was held within the framework of the legal project supported by “Internews Network” and the US Agency for International Development.

According to the chairman of NANSMIT Nuriddin Karshibaev, 22 participants – media professionals and experts – developed recommendations regarding the legal and ethical standards in the media.

The training session in Khatlon was continued by another three-day seminar “Quality of media products” supported by the US organization National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The main purpose of the seminar was improvement of analytical and research skills of media professionals.

Similar seminars were organized in the cities of Khujand and Kulyab, on 13 April and 20-22 April respectively.

April 11
The Tajik Media Council, Dushanbe

On 11 April, the director of the private TV company SMT Zinatulloh Ismoilion was elected the chairman of the Tajik Media Council.

The chairman of NASMIT Nuriddin Karshibaev was elected the deputy chairman of the Council on the issues of freedom of media in Tajikistan.

II. VIOLATION OF PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS

1. Accusations of libel and insult

April 27
Charkhi Gardun, private newspaper, Dushanbe

The Firdausi district court in Dushanbe adjourned the final verdict against the Charkhi Gardun weekly.

The lawsuit against Charkhi Gardun was initiated by Saivali Nurov, former member of the Tajik parliament from Khatlon province. Nurov complained that a publication in the newspaper (27 July 2010) contained slanderous accusations against him and demanded to bring Charkhi Gardun to responsibility on Articles 135 and 136 of the Tajik Criminal Code (Libel and Insult accordingly).

2. Violation of the principle of transparency of legal proceedings

April 7
Galina Dzutseva, the Vetchorka weekly, Dushanbe

On 7 April 2011, the correspondent of the newspaper Vetchorka Galina Dzutseva was rudely pushed out from the premises of the Economic Court in Dushanbe.

Galina Dzutseva was in the court on the errand of her editor.

3. Ungrounded limitation of access to information

April 6
Saidali Dustmatov, Khatlon province radio

On 6 April 2011, the correspondent of the Khatlon province radio Saidali Dustmatov approached the chair of the Women and Family Affairs Committee Kurbongul Pirkhonova to require information about the number of divorced women in the region.

The public official refused to provide such information until the journalists brings a special request from the Khatlon broadcasting authorities.

April 11
All media, Kulyab, Khatlon province

Referring to “orders from above”, branches of big Tajik banks refuse to provide journalists with information on remittances from Tajik labor migrants.

The journalist Turko Dikaev based in Khatlon told the NANSMIT monitoring service that the authorities do not care about the ethical side of the issue, i.e. “it is indecent to count somebody’s money”… In his opinion, the local authorities are concerned about the negative political image of the central government unable to counter the problems of unemployment.

“Upon the background of growing prices, extreme poverty and unemployment, the millions of US dollars and Russian rubles from Tajik labor migrants reveal the helplessness of the government. Thus, they have chosen the simplest way – to ban the publication of these figures”, — Dikaev added.

April 29
Bek Zukhurov, Communications Service, Tajik government

The Communication Service under the Tajik government sent an official order to all mobile telephone companies, according to which the previously issued licenses on the use of radio-electronic means and network interconnection are invalid.

In the order issued on 27 April, the head of the Service Bek Zukhurov indicates that as of the 1 May, all external sources of communication used by commercial companies on the territory of the country must be switched off.

All types of international network interconnection are also banned, except for those through the state operator.

Bek Zukhurov explained that “this action is caused by the necessity of ensuring the state security in the country and proper regulation of radio frequencies”.

3. Illegal confiscation of property

April 20
Paykon, private newspaper, Dushanbe

On 20 April 2001, officers of the Firdausi district court in Dushanbe confiscated all equipment from the premises of the Paykon newspaper.

Journalists of the Paykon say that this action is illegal because the confiscated computers and other office equipment officially belong to the Bureau on Advisory Services and Linguistic Expertise.

In 2009, the Firdausi district court issued a verdict against Paykon imposing a fine in the amount 300 thousand Somoni (about $70 thousand). The lawsuit against Paykon was initiated by the Tajik State Standard Agency following a publication criticizing its activities impeding the development of entrepreneurship in Tajikistan.

III. CONFLICTS. VIOLATIONS INCRIMINATED TO THE MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS

1. Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation

April 19
Asia Plus, Ozodagon, Farazh, private newspapers, Dushanbe

The court litigation between judges of the Tajik Supreme Court and the three private newspapers has been settled amicably.

The court hearings started in January 2010 after the newspapers quoted the attorney Solekhjon Juraev who told the media about cases of corruption in the Supreme Court.

The judges claimed a moral compensation from the private newspapers in the amount of 5,5 million Somoni.

This report is based on compiled materials from the media and private information presented by correspondents of the NANSMIT Monitoring Network

Coordinator of the Monitoring Service
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Project Manager
Nuriddin Karshibayev

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon clearly seems to be annoyed by the international media’s blanket coverage of the British royal wedding.

He suggested the global media should instead focus on more serious issues, such as the economic crisis and growing food prices.

Rahmon criticized journalists for covering «some wedding or other,» as if there were not enough problems in the world.

«Some journalists don’t notice the climate-change problems, the natural disaster in Japan, droughts, the growing price for oil and food, and instead they put reports from the weddings of princes and princesses on their front pages,» Rahmon said during a meeting with government officials in Dushanbe on April 29.
Rahmon also didn’t sound particularly impressed by the lavish wedding ceremony.

If anything like this happened in a former Soviet state, he said, «Everyone would immediately say this was a totalitarian regime.»

Rahmon has banned lavish weddings and other private functions in Tajikistan, setting a cap on the number of guests and the length of the ceremonies.

According to his instructions, you are not allowed to invite more than 150 guests, the wedding party cannot last for more than three hours, and the wedding convoy shouldn’t involve more than four cars.

So if you are planning a wedding on a shoestring budget, Tajikistan could be just the right place to have it.

— Farangis Najibullah

http://www.rferl.org/content/chaikhana_tajik_president_royal_wedding_totalitarianism/16798193.html

Deadline:31/12/1

Foundation of the Development of the Republic Abkhazia

Russian-language writers from Abkhazia, Russia, Ukraine, Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are invited to the competition about Abkhazia.

The competition is aimed at finding talented authors, promoting them and helping them develop professionally.

The competition is supported by the Foundation of the Development of the Republic Abkhazia and Aydgylara, the Union of Abkhaz Youth in Russia.

For more information (in Russian), please, click here: http://www.abhazia-russia.ru/o-konkurse

http://www.abhazia-russia.ru/o-konkurse

The Public Affairs Section is launching an exciting new initiative.

You can take an online journalism course called World Youth News and become a journalist. The online course is self-paced and asynchronous. It’s a self-directed course designed by iEARN, NY Times, Columbia University School of Journalism to enable young people to gain the skills involved in being a journalist.

You are mentored by grad students from Columbia and NYU along the way. After you register, you can take the course on your own time. The reading materials are divided into five sections, and we recommend that you complete it within a week. Our American Corner Coordinators will provide computer time for you to complete the course, or you can do it at home.

The online interaction in the course provides opportunities to practice English with native speakers.

If you would like to take the course, please e-mail your name and e-mail address me: kobilovas@state.gov

This program will launch May 3, World Press Freedom Day!

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DUSHANBE — Equipment from the offices of the independent Tajik weekly «Paikon» has been confiscated in line with a court-imposed fine of 300,000 somonis ($67,153) for libeling state consumer-protection agency Tojikstandart, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

«Paikon» correspondent Ahliddin Salimpour told RFE/RL that court bailiffs took two computers, a scanner, and a printer from the newspaper’s offices.

Tojikstandart brought the defamation suit after «Paikon» in 2009 published a statement from a group of businessmen who accused the product-safety watchdog of obstructing their activities.

In October 2009, Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district court ordered «Paikon» to pay 300,000 somonis in compensation to Tojikstandart.

Tajik lawyer Shuhrat Qudratov argued that the property confiscated by the court did not belong to «Paikon» but to the Bureau of Linguistic Expertise, Legal Advice, and Journalistic Investigations which, like «Paikon,» belongs to journalist Jumaboy Tolibov.

Nuriddin Qarshiboev, chairman of the National Association of Independent Media, alleged that the court case against «Paikon» was aimed not at ensuring that justice prevailed but at «strik[ing] fear in the hearts» of journalists.

«Paikon» has a weekly print run of 2,000 copies. Its editors are hoping that other newspapers will agree to publish reports written by «Paikon» journalists in the event that it cannot continue publishing.

Such mutual assistance is becoming increasingly common among hard-pressed independent publications in Tajikistan facing official pressure.

http://www.rferl.org/content/independent_tajik_weekly_confiscation/9502332.html