Journalism Still a Dangerous Profession in Uzbekistan
Journalism Still a Dangerous Profession in Uzbekistan
The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, has rated Uzbekistan as one of the five worst offending countries for detaining journalists and violating press expression.
NBCentral Asia observers agree with this assessment, and predict that the situation could get even worse.
On December 8, CPJ its annual Prison Census Report for 2008, listing 125 journalists around the world who are in prison because of their professional activities.
Uzbekistan comes fifth on the list, following China, Cuba, Burma and Eritrea.
The report lists Muhammad Bekjonov, editor of the Uzbek opposition newspaper Erk, serving a 14 sentence; Yusuf Ruzimurodov, sentenced to 15 years; Hurriyat freelance journalist Ghairat Meliboyev, serving six-and-a-half years; Ortikali Namazov, editor of the Pop Tongi newspaper, with five-and-a-half years; Jamshid Karimov, a former IWPR contributor, who has been forcibly confined to a mental hospital since 2006; and Solijon Abdurahmonov, sentenced to ten years in prison in October 2008.
Over the past few years, Uzbekistan topped various lists that measure repression of free speech. In April, the American group Freedom House published a report on press freedom in which Uzbekistan was among the ten worst countries.
There are no independent media in Uzbekistan. The press is under the total control of the authorities, and journalists are used as an instrument of government propaganda. Those who refuse to comply are persecuted.
“It is dangerous to be a journalist in Uzbekistan because the authorities do not tolerate objectivity, still less criticism”, Umida Niazova, a journalist and human rights activist now based in Germany, told NBCentral Asia.
Media experts say the Uzbek authorities are now engaged in a concerted effort to purge society of free-thinkers by forcing journalists who try to write the truth to leave the country, or by imprisoning them.
“The prospects are alarming,” said an observer in Tashkent. “The authorities are isolating the remaining journalists who have tried to write for independent media outlets.”
After the Andijan violence of May 2005, when the authorities security forces to open fire on a peaceful demonstration, the majority of independent journalists fled the country out of fear of persecution. Those who stayed behind were imprisoned.
The situation has remained unchanged since then.
“Dissenting journalists have a choice – leave the country or go to jail,” said a journalist who has recently left Uzbekistan, and asked not to be named. “There is no sense being there as they [the authorities] do not allow us to work.”
Some of the handful of independent journalists remaining in various parts of Uzbekistan said the difficulties they face include the impossibility of gaining accreditation to attend public events, contacts who are too afraid to give interviews or even be in touch with them, and constant surveillance by the security services to monitor journalists’ movements, phone calls and emails.
NBCentral Asia media analysts say persecution is just one tool in the authorities’ armoury. They also control all state media output by means of “press monitoring departments”, which have effectively taken over from the censors.
In such an environment, journalists are too scared to write anything. One described the situation as “simply unbearable”.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
NBCentral Asia observers agree with this assessment, and predict that the situation could get even worse.
On December 8, CPJ its annual Prison Census Report for 2008, listing 125 journalists around the world who are in prison because of their professional activities.
Uzbekistan comes fifth on the list, following China, Cuba, Burma and Eritrea.
The report lists Muhammad Bekjonov, editor of the Uzbek opposition newspaper Erk, serving a 14 sentence; Yusuf Ruzimurodov, sentenced to 15 years; Hurriyat freelance journalist Ghairat Meliboyev, serving six-and-a-half years; Ortikali Namazov, editor of the Pop Tongi newspaper, with five-and-a-half years; Jamshid Karimov, a former IWPR contributor, who has been forcibly confined to a mental hospital since 2006; and Solijon Abdurahmonov, sentenced to ten years in prison in October 2008.
Over the past few years, Uzbekistan topped various lists that measure repression of free speech. In April, the American group Freedom House published a report on press freedom in which Uzbekistan was among the ten worst countries.
There are no independent media in Uzbekistan. The press is under the total control of the authorities, and journalists are used as an instrument of government propaganda. Those who refuse to comply are persecuted.
“It is dangerous to be a journalist in Uzbekistan because the authorities do not tolerate objectivity, still less criticism”, Umida Niazova, a journalist and human rights activist now based in Germany, told NBCentral Asia.
Media experts say the Uzbek authorities are now engaged in a concerted effort to purge society of free-thinkers by forcing journalists who try to write the truth to leave the country, or by imprisoning them.
“The prospects are alarming,” said an observer in Tashkent. “The authorities are isolating the remaining journalists who have tried to write for independent media outlets.”
After the Andijan violence of May 2005, when the authorities security forces to open fire on a peaceful demonstration, the majority of independent journalists fled the country out of fear of persecution. Those who stayed behind were imprisoned.
The situation has remained unchanged since then.
“Dissenting journalists have a choice – leave the country or go to jail,” said a journalist who has recently left Uzbekistan, and asked not to be named. “There is no sense being there as they [the authorities] do not allow us to work.”
Some of the handful of independent journalists remaining in various parts of Uzbekistan said the difficulties they face include the impossibility of gaining accreditation to attend public events, contacts who are too afraid to give interviews or even be in touch with them, and constant surveillance by the security services to monitor journalists’ movements, phone calls and emails.
NBCentral Asia media analysts say persecution is just one tool in the authorities’ armoury. They also control all state media output by means of “press monitoring departments”, which have effectively taken over from the censors.
In such an environment, journalists are too scared to write anything. One described the situation as “simply unbearable”.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
