Hello all; first of all, I am sorry for my hiatus from posts (paucity of posting) for such a long time, but also, I am happy to say that I have found a new home on the web, and I will be once again posting much more frequently!
From now on, I will be posting about Tajikistan at
http://studentdigitalus.org/TajikistanFocus/
I hope you will head over and check us out.
Over on Global Voices there is a really interesting post and discussion on LGBT rights and discrimination in Tajikistan (hit the link for more):
Gay issues are a taboo subject in Tajikistan. Although the country decriminalized homosexuality fifteen years ago, there is still very little tolerance toward sexual minorities within its conservative society. In addition to homophobic attitudes, those rare individuals who dare to disclose their ‘unconventional’ sexual orientation become easy targets of physical and psychological abuse, including from police (pdf). As a result, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community remains ”one of the most closed and secretive parts of Tajik society”.
A recent discussion in the country’s blogosphere offers a rare glimpse into what it means to be gay in Tajikistan and how the country’s people view members of the LGBT community.
‘It means PAIN…’
The discussion started after blogger Rishdor wrote [ru] about a violent incident at his university. Students there found out that one of their classmates was a gay. Rishdor writes [ru]:
Как-то все восприняли это как личную обиду. Гомика решили проучить. Человек 8 однокурсников избили его в туалете. Жестоко избили, у него все лицо и костюм были в крови…
For some reason, everyone took it as a personal offence. It was decided that the [gay] should be taught a lesson. About eight of our classmates beat him up in the bathroom. They beat him up badly; there was a lot of blood on his face and clothes…
Tajikistan is turning ageism into state policy. Supposedly seeking to “attract young specialists” into government service, the president’s office has instructed officials to lay off elderly government employees –including teachers, doctors at state hospitals, and office functionaries – regardless of their qualifications.
Critics fear the policy will exacerbate the decline of Tajikistan’s intellectual capital. The December 6 order covers those who are old enough to qualify for pensions – 63 for men and 58 for women. Signed by the president’s chief of staff, former Justice Minister Bakhtiyor Khudoyorov, the order is designed to “accelerate the use of modern technologies, especially in the area of e-governance.”
Telecommunications engineer Ilkhom Shomuddinov, 64, is among those affected. He has worked for the state for more than 40 years. “Believe it or not, I don’t remember taking a single sick day. Now, I am told that I am dismissed – they [the managers] follow instructions from above. They don’t know whom to replace me with. Even if they manage to find a young specialist with my qualifications, it is unlikely he would work for that joke of a salary,” Shomuddinov told EurasiaNet.org.
Government wages are paltry: High school teachers earn about $70 per month, doctors between $100 and $200, and secretaries between $100 and $150.
But pensions (a form of social security issued to all, regardless of where a pensioner worked) are more difficult to live on, not only because they are smaller, but because they do not afford one the opportunity to use his or her official position to earn extra income (teachers offer their students private lessons, doctors see patients outside of office hours, and bureaucrats pocket bribes). The order effectively condemns many older workers to poverty. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, there are 590,000 pensioners in Tajikistan; the average monthly pension is 152 somoni (less than $32).
Judging from reactions in local media, the order is deeply unpopular. Some legal experts argue it not only undermines Tajiks’ constitutional rights, but also their human rights according to international law.
Multiple attempts to discuss the order with officials at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the president’s office failed. Officials repeatedly transferred calls to phones that went unanswered.
In response to media criticism, during a January 7 press conference Education Minister Nuriddin Saidov promised “no dismissals will be carried out in the educational system in relation to the age of employees,” the Asia-Plus news agency quoted him as saying. “Many workers who have reached the pension age are qualified and experienced cadre, and we need them [as badly] as we need the air.”
Yet layoffs in the education system, which the minister oversees, have occurred. In early January, Khujand State University dismissed 11 professors who had passed retirement age, the Avesta news agency reported. At Kulyab State University, 23 elderly teachers have reportedly been laid off.
Government sources say they are faced with a dilemma: Ignore authoritarian President Imomali Rahmon’s order and face punishment from the chief executive’s office, or replace aging specialists with unqualified and untested young people who have come up through the dilapidated post-Soviet education system. “On the one hand, we cannot ignore instructions from the president’s office; on the other hand, it would be a crime to fire professors. Who will train young doctors then? Both the education and health sectors have decayed during the years of independence and the civil war,” said a source in the Health Ministry’s Education Department, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a fear of retaliation.
via Tajikistan: Executive Order Disregards Collective Wisdom | EurasiaNet.org.
Tajikistan in 2012: A Year in Review
The past year was an eventful one in Tajikistan on the economic, political and military fronts, with both domestic and regional ramifications. Importantly for Tajikistan’s economy, in May 2012, construction on the controversial hydroelectric Rogun Dam on the Vaksh River—a tributary of the Amu Darya river—was suspended following an order from the World Bank. The suspension reportedly put 5,000 people out of work and will remain in effect until the ecological impact study of the dam is completed. It is expected that the Word Bank’s feasibility study will be published this summer. Rogun is commonly seen to be at the heart of the hostility between Tajikistan and downstream Uzbekistan, which fears that the dam would severely damage Uzbekistani farmers’ ability to irrigate their cotton crops and would accelerate the ecological disaster in the Aral Sea. Uzbekistan has retaliated by periodically not allowing Tajikistan-bound rail and truck cargo to cross its borders and cutting off the flow of natural gas, exacerbating Tajikistan’s perennial energy shortages (Ozodi, January 1).
The year 2012 did however bring some good news for Tajikistan’s hopes of energy security with the news of the discovery of potentially huge hydrocarbon reserves in the Bokhtar region. The find was announced earlier this summer by the Canadian firm Tethys Petroleum and was deemed credible enough to attract investment from both the French energy giant Total and China’s National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC) (Asia Plus, December 24, 2012). While further exploration needs to be done, the potential reserves of oil and gas are estimated to be more than enough to make Tajikistan a net exporter of hydrocarbons. Such a development would free Dushanbe from its energy reliance on Russia and Uzbekistan and no doubt influence its foreign policy calculations.
In December, Tajikistan joined the World Trade Organization, which local economists hope will lower domestic customs tariffs, curb the power of monopolies in certain sectors such as aviation, lower prices on domestic goods, and encourage foreign investment (BBC Tajik, December 11, 2012). On the other hand, some critics have raised concerns over the potential negative short-term effects on the competitiveness of Tajikistan’s two chief exports, aluminum and cotton. The country’s cotton industry is not only an important economic force but, given the continued existence in Tajikistan of Soviet-style collective farms (kolkhozy), an important socio-political institution as well.
On the political front, the big story looming in 2013 is the presidential election slated for November. The election will mark the first in Tajikistan since 2006 when Emomalii Rahmon secured his third term in office. That vote was boycotted by several opposition parties including the largest, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP). However, this time the opposition parties are expected to participate and possibly put forth a coalition candidate. Nonetheless, 2012 was a rough year for the opposition as both religious and political figures such as Muhiddin Kabiri (the head of the IRP) and Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda (prominent cleric and former deputy prime minister) were legally harassed, imprisoned (such as Umarali Quvatov, businessman and head of the exiled opposition group “Group 24”), and even killed (notably, Sabzali Mamadrizoev, head of the IRP in the remote Gorno-Badakhshan region). Since the last presidential vote in 2006, Rahmon has seen neighboring states and allies embroiled in contested elections and subsequent hostility (witness Iran’s 2009 presidential election, the 2010 coup in Kyrgyzstan as well as the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011-2012). Despite assurances from some quarters that the country’s civil war has bred a war-weary and politically disinterested population, the regime will likely increase the pressure on the opposition and consolidate its power during the run-up to the elections in anticipation of potential unrest. President Rahmon may attempt to secure his rule by exaggerating the threat of Islamic extremism and proffering himself as a bulwark against regional instability in the context of a post-2014 Afghanistan. However the unrest this summer in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan that killed dozens was a sobering reminder of at least three things: 1) not all Tajikistanis are war weary, 2) not all threats to the regime are inspired by Islam, and 3) the regime underestimates the domestic and international backlash against such heavy-handed tactics.
via UNHCR | Refworld | Tajikistan in 2012: A Year in Review.
DUSHANBE, January 17 (RIA Novosti) – Tajikistan has once again blocked access to the popular social networking site Facebook, prolonging a months-long ordeal that has earned the Central Asian country widespread criticism.
The blocking order came from the chief of Tajikistan’s communications service, Beg Zukhurov, and also affects three other websites, including Radio Liberty’s Tajik service, Internet provider Telekom Tekhnolodzhi told RIA Novosti late Wednesday night.
This is the second time in nearly as many months the Tajik authorities have blocked Facebook access. Last November, access was cut off after officials found what they said was slanderous content that criticized the country’s leadership.
At the time, Zukhurov blasted the people responsible for the content, who he claimed were being “paid well” to post it. He also noted that officials were acting on the requests of “indignant Tajik citizens.”
The move earned criticism from the European Union, which in early December called on Tajikistan to relax control over the Internet amid concerns of a crackdown on freedom of speech.
The EU Delegation to Tajikistan noted “with concern that such obstruction occurs frequently in Tajikistan which raises questions about the state of media freedom,” according to a December 6 statement posted to its website.
The administration of President Emomali Rakhmon, who has been in office since 1994, has often come under fire for alleged corruption and undemocratic behavior.
via Tajikistan Blocks Facebook – Again | World | RIA Novosti.
Authorities in Tajikistan have ordered Internet service providers, again, to block access to Facebook, local news agencies report. The blocking orders (which this time also target the local service of Radio Liberty) have become so familiar in the past year that there’s little new to say. So let’s look at how the man in charge of Internet access has explained his thinking in recent months.
Last March, the head of the communications service, Beg Zukhurov, after denying any order to block Facebook, said his office had actually blocked the site for “prophylactic maintenance.”
Internet service providers have said they were ordered to block Facebook last weekend, along with three or four news portals, by the state communications service, after one of the portals published an article severely criticizing [President Emomali] Rakhmon and his government. When queried by news agency Asia-Plus, the head of the service, Beg Zukhurov, denied any order to block Facebook, but said the authors of offensive online content “defaming the honor and dignity of the Tajik authorities” should be made “answerable.” Tajikistan frequently uses libel cases and extremism charges to silence critical journalists.
In November, Zukhurov again flipped the switch and memorably called Facebook a “hotbed of slander” when he sought a meeting with the social network’s founder and chairman, Mark Zuckerberg.
“Does Facebook have an owner? Can he come to Tajikistan? I’d meet him during visiting hours. If he does not have time, I’d talk to his assistants,” the BBC’s Russian service quoted Zukhurov as saying. (Zukhurov’s visiting hours are Saturday’s from 10am to noon.)
Zukhurov would like to discuss with Zuckerberg his theory that Facebook users are being paid to complain about their leaders, which is keeping them from discussing more important issues: “For example, somewhere in Tajikistan there is no water or roads are bad or the weather forecast is incorrect. But users do not write about these [topics]. They write especially about money issues. I was told that the users who post critical comments about officials and entrepreneurs are paid $5,000 to $10,000 for doing this. I’m very surprised about how expensive the comments are.”
The following month, over a long weekend in December, Zukhurov blocked 131 sites, seemingly chosen at random, for “technical” reasons.
The latest, short-lived mass blockade lasted from December 21- 25, and had observers scratching their heads. Some believe Zukhurov is honing techniques intended for use during elections this coming November, when President Imomali Rahmon is expected to seek another seven-year term. Tajikistan has no independent television outlets and no daily newspapers, leaving the Internet as the sole outlet open to Tajiks to air criticism of the government. Others say Zukhurov is trying to demonstrate his value to Rahmon.
[…]
Zukhurov’s actions may have unintended consequences, contends former education minister Munira Inoyatova. “The blocking of web resources – especially social networks – is widely seen as impeding access to information and prohibiting free communication. These prohibitions always increase social tensions,” Inoyatova told EurasiaNet.org.
For many, the most memorable Zukhurovism was his explanation for a communications blackout in the restive Gorno-Badakhshan province last summer, scene of heavy fighting between government troops and local warlords: A stray bullet had taken out a cable, he said, severing all phone and Internet connections to the region for a month (he did not explain the simultaneous YouTube block).
The repeated attempts to cut Tajiks’ access to the Internet – and the nonsensical explanations – have drawn widespread criticism from diplomats, press freedom watchdogs, and Tajiks embarrassed for their country. Whatever Zukhurov’s motivations, he’s helping turn isolated Tajikistan into a black hole for media freedom.
Something strange happened in Tajikistan over a late December weekend. On a Friday evening, the government’s communications agency ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) to block 131 websites for “technical” reasons. Then suddenly, a few days later, the ISPs were told, in effect; ‘never mind.’
Internet users in Tajikistan are getting accustomed to such erratic behavior from the state communications agency and its mercurial boss, Beg Zukhurov. For example, Zukhurov blocked Facebook twice in 2012, supposedly because he was upset that Tajiks were using the social network to criticize Tajikistan’s long-serving president. He’s also overseen the repeated blocking of Tajikistan’s leading independent news agency, Asia-Plus, as punishment for its critical reporting. But the December list appeared to be a random compilation of sites that included, besides Twitter and several popular Russian social networks, lots of obscure entertainment portals that few in Tajikistan care about.
“Among the pages to be banned [were] personal pages of unknown individuals,” said the head of one Tajik ISP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “More than 70 percent of them are local music and video portals. Obviously, the list is composed by a spider-bot, which followed an absurd algorithm. Public officials have once again proven their illiteracy and none of them will comment on this foolish order.”
Zukhurov’s explanations of his actions often border on the farcical: Facebook, for example, was blocked for “prophylactic maintenance” last March, other sites for “technical reasons,” and phone access in Tajikistan’s restive east was severed for a month because a bullet, Zukhurov claimed, had sliced a wire. IT service providers contend that Zukhurov has no legal power to order blocks. (Only courts have that authority). But providers follow his orders out of fear of official harassment, such as a sudden visit from the tax inspector.
via Tajikistan: Dushanbe Web Regulator Creating “Preposterous Impediments” | EurasiaNet.org.
Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year’s election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office.
Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional amendments that allow him to seek a new seven-year term in November 2013.
The Internet remains the main platform where Tajiks can air grievances and criticize government policies at a time when the circulation of local newspapers is tiny and television is tightly controlled by the state.
Tajikistan’s state communications service blocked 131 local and foreign Internet sites “for technical and maintenance works”.
“Most probably, these works will be over in a week,” Tatyana Kholmurodova, deputy head of the service, told Reuters. She declined to give the reason for the work, which cover even some sites with servers located abroad.
The blocked resources included Russia’s popular social networking sites http://www.my.mail.ru and VKontakte (www.vk.com), as well as Tajik news site TJKnews.com and several local blogs.
“The government has ordered the communications service to test their ability to block dozens of sites at once, should such a need arise,” a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“It is all about November 2013,” he said, in a clear reference to the presidential election.
Other blocked websites included a Ukrainian soccer site, a Tajik rap music site, several local video-sharing sites and a pornography site.
via Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms – Terra USA.
Dushanbe: Over 130 websites have been blocked in Tajikistan in connection with “technical repair work”, the country’s telecom agency said. Many of the sites listed were inaccessible within Tajikistan till Saturday.
Most of the sites targeted host music and video content, including topvideo.tj – dubbed Tajikistan’s answer to YouTube. Popular social networking service Vkontakte, similar to Facebook, and Odnoklassniki, similar to Friends Reunited, were also on the list. Access to sites popular with Tajik bloggers, and some publishing pro-opposition content, or run by Tajiks abroad was also blocked.
In November, Beg Zukhurov, the head of the country’s communications agency, issued an instruction that internet providers and mobile operators in the country block access to Facebook, “because of slander of the government of the country and its leaders”.
This prompted concern among the international community, including the OSCE and the EU. On Dec 4, access to Facebook was restored.
IANS
via 130 Websites Blocked in Tajikistan | Asia | www.indiatimes.com.
Tajikistan has ordered local Internet providers to block Twitter, one of more than 100 sites including popular Russian-language social networks starting next week, an industry representative told AFP Saturday.
“The (government) communications service has sent Internet companies a huge list of 131 sites that must be blocked in the country from Monday,” said Asomiddin Atoyev, the head of the Tajik association of Internet providers.
“The list includes social networking sites that are actively used by Tajik Internet users including government officials,” Atoyev said.
Among the blocked sites are Vkontakte, or In Touch, and Odnoklassniki, or Classmates, the most popular social networking sites in Russia with many users in the ex-Soviet Union, and Mail.ru, an email service.
After cutting local access to Facebook in November, the authorities in Tajikistan have ordered to block over 130 websites, including popular Russian-language networking platforms. Blogger Tomiris writes [ru]:
Hurray! [Tajikistan is] ahead of the rest of the world again! Where else do they block more than 130 websites at once?
Thursday, 27 September 2012
by Hayrullo Mirsaidov
Tajikistan’s media organisations and mass media outlets are beginning a joint action called “100 days of freedom in Tajnet”. The reasons for the joint action are regular blocks of websites and many violations of the rights of journalists.
The media’s problems in Tajikistan began with special military operations in Khorog in July 2012 aimed at neutralising illegal armed gangs and catching the killers of Abdullo Nazarov, the General of the Committee of National Security. From the first days of the operations, the website of information agency Asia-plus was blocked. According to the agency’s director Zebo Tadjibayeva, site providers blocked their site following a verbal order from the Communications Service head Beg Zuhurov. “Operators who did not listen to this, received official letters telling them to block sties for technical reasons,” said Ms Tadjibayeva.
The Asia-plus site was unblocked only on 21 September, and the head of the Communications Service said that she has no idea why operators blocked the site. Beg Zuhurov said that a special organisation takes care of sites in Tajikistan, which creates lists of web resources which publish “black PR” about the country, however Asia-plus is not on that list. Currently, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru, Fergananews.com, Centrasia.ru and the world’s largest video hosting site Youtube are not available in Tajikistan. Recently, the management of another national information agency Tojnews also announced that its site was blocked.
As well as blocking sites, journalists’ work was impeded by the country’s security agencies. Journalists are often detained and taken to police stations, some have their cameras and other equipment taken away and some even experience physical violence.
To root out these situations, media outlets have developed a series of actions to defend the rights and interests of the media and harness solidarity among journalists. Head of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT) Nuriddin Karshibov said that the main features were organising meetings with the heads of the security structures and an appeal to the General Prosecutor by the media about the wrongful treatment of journalists by security agencies. The campaign will also includes on-line events, like adverts on social networking sites, the radio and creating banners for all the media outlets. The campaign will also work with internet cafй owners, distribute leaflets and hold round tables. Media organisations are also going to ask the Constitutional Court of Tajikistan to look into the legality of blocking websites.
The head of the Tajikistan Media Alliance Hurshedi Atovullo said that every year, the pressure on journalists is increasing and that this is only the beginning. “Through my personal bitter experiences I know that before every election in Tajikistan, constraints on the media increase and this has already become a tradition. The authorities could close down certain newspapers again for different reasons and block websites, and maybe beating up journalists will also become a tradition.”
The next presidential election is planned for the end of 2013. Current president Emomali Rahmon will stand as candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party of Tajikistan. If is selected, he will be in charge of the country for the third decade.
via Tajik Journalists Attempt to Defend Their Rights again and again , 27 September 2012 Thursday 14:33.
The move was linked to an armed conflict in the east of the republic that took place on July 24. At least nine Tajik security officers were killed and another 25 others injured in an operation in Tajikistan’s eastern city of Khorog against a mafia-style group believed to be behind the murder of a top Tajik security general, Abdullo Nazarov.
“The decision has been taken by the Governmental Communications Service,” an internet provider company spokesman said.
Tajikistan’s internet users say access to BBC has been blocked since July 29.
On July 23, a day before the controversial conflict, a demonstration that apparently sparked the anger of the country’s authorities was held in Khorog.
Government officials say members of an armed group in eastern Tajikistan have started handing over their weapons as part of a truce with the government.
The Interior Ministry reported on July 30 that more than 60 weapons have so far been surrendered by the outlaw group.
In exchange, the government has promised that they will not face charges in connection with fighting last week that left at least 17 soldiers, 30 militants, and more than 20 civilians dead.
Fighting started when government forces launched an operation in the eastern Gorno-Badakhshan region following the assassination of a high-level security official there on July 21.
The government is still demanding that four people it considers responsible for the assassination be handed over to face justice.
Reports from Khorog say the regional capital is calm.
Internet access to several Russian news outlets, YouTube, the BBC and local news portals has been cut off in Tajikistan by order of the authorities. The blackout comes after severe clashes between the army and guerrillas in the city of Khorog.
Tajik web users say they first failed to connect to the news websites, including Tajikistan’s Ozadagon, on Sunday and the block has been in place ever since. Internet providers point the finger at the country’s leaders.
“We have been instructed to block vesti.ru and youtube.com resources and this has been done,” Telecomm Technology provider told Interfax news agency in the central Asian country on Monday. “The reasons have not been explained, as usual.”
The government’s Communication Service has admitted to the BBC that they had issued the order to block the news websites.
The block seems to be exercised by a majority of providers, but not all of them. On Monday, an Interfax correspondent in Dushanbe freely entered the BBC English, Russian, Tajik and Persian websites.
via Tajikistan blocks YouTube, BBC, Russian websites after violence — RT.
Tajikistan’s government has blocked the websites of the British Broadcasting Corporation and Russian TV channel Vesti, local internet providers told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“The decision has been taken by the Governmental Communications Service,” an internet provider company spokesman said.
Tajikistan’s internet users say access to Vesti and BBC has been blocked since July 29. Earlier authorities severed access to YouTube.
Experts link the move to a controversial armed conflict in the east of the republic that took place on July 24. At least nine Tajik security officers were killed and another 25 others injured in a special operation in Tajikistan’s eastern city of Khorog against a mafia-style group believed to be behind the murder of a top Tajik security general, Abdullo Nazarov.
Dushanbe denies any casualties among civilians, but the opposition media reported some 200 dead, including security officers and civilians.
Tajik opposition activists claim that the conflict was actually an attempt by President Emomali Rakhmon to suppress opposition in the region. They have accused Tajik authorities of using Nazarov’s murder, and the recent attacks on government officials, as a pretext for an ethnic cleansing campaign, and an attempt to reestablish control over the region which has long been known as a fiefdom of local warlords.
On July 23, a day before the controversial conflict, a demonstration that apparently sparked the anger of the country’s authorities was held in Khorog. A video captured during the mass event and later posted on YouTube shows that one of those addressing the demonstration was Sabzali Mamadrizoyev, the head of the regional branch of Tajikistan’s Islamic Revival Party (IRP).
Mamadrizoyev criticized the poor social and economic situation in the country and the inactivity of authorities. The activist was found dead three days later. On Monday, Tajikistan’s Islamic Revival Party officially confirmed the assassination of Mamadrizoyev, Asia Plus news portal said.
“After the July 23 meeting, Sabzali Mamadrizoyev was detained by law enforcement authorities and taken to the Khorog border unit,” Asia Plus quoted as saying an IRP member from Khorog, without giving his name. “He was severely beaten there and then shot with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Mamadrizoyev’s body was found three days later and he was buried on July 26.”
The Gorno-Badakhshan region where the conflict occured remains volatile 15 years after a civil war between the Moscow-backed government and an Islamist-led opposition. Close to 50,000 people were killed during the conflict. The five-year war ended in 1997 with a United Nations-brokered peace agreement.
Tajikistan on Saturday closed all crossing points on the border with Afghanistan.
Tajik activists have sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to help resolve the conflict.
via Tajikistan Blocks British, Russian News Websites | World | RIA Novosti.
Таджикистан заблокировал несколько новостных агентств после того, как они сообщили, альтернативные версии того, что произошло в Хороге.
سازمان امنیت و همکاری اروپا (OSCE) از دولت تاجیکستان خواسته است به خار چیدن یوتیوب ویدئو به اشتراک گذاری وب سایت و حصول اطمینان از جریان آزاد اطلاعات است.
رسانه های محلی گزارش شده است که تاجیکستان دولتی خدمات ارتباطی ارائه دهندگان اینترنت در تاریخ 26 ژوئیه خواست برای جلوگیری از دسترسی به YouTube است.
Local media reported that Tajikistan’s state-run communication service asked Internet providers on July 26 to block access to YouTube.
The OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a statement that “only courts should be allowed to decide whether websites can be blocked, not authorities.”
She said blocking deprives citizens of their right to know, to receive, and impart information about development in their own country.”
VIENNA, 27 July 2012 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, called on the government of Tajikistan today to unblock video sharing website YouTube and ensure the free flow and access to information.
On 26 July the Communications Service, a government agency, asked internet providers to block access to YouTube.
“YouTube has become one of the most important sources of diverse information all over the world. With full understanding for the security concerns of the authorities, free access to information and the free flow of information are vital at all times and should not be restricted or suppressed,” Mijatović said.
“Only courts should be allowed to decide whether websites can be blocked, not authorities. Blocking is a restriction on free media and, most importantly, deprives citizens of their right to know, to receive and impart information about the developments in their own country.”
The police told me “If we kill you we’ll chuck your body in the canal and no one will ever find you and we won’t get punished”
Torture survivor 2012
Torture, beatings and other ill-treatment are routine in places of detention in Tajikistan and thrive in a climate of widespread corruption and impunity, Amnesty International said in a new report in which it urged the authorities to roundly condemn and stamp out the practice.
Shattered Lives: Torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials in Tajikistan describes the risks people face in the early stages of detention, the inadequate investigations into allegations of torture, and the failure of the Tajikistani authorities to hold those responsible to account.
“The torture methods used by the security forces are shocking: involving electric shocks, boiling water, suffocation, beatings, burning with cigarettes, rape and threats of rape – the only escape is to sign a confession or sometimes to pay a bribe ,” said Rachel Bugler, Amnesty International’s expert on Tajikistan.
“Such treatment leaves victims suffering not only from the physical injuries such as burst ear drums, broken teeth, dislocated jaws; but also from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress such as depression, chronic insomnia, and nightmares. Their ill-treatment has lasting repercussions on their lives and the lives of their families.
via Tajikistan: Torture unchecked in the absence of rule of law | Amnesty International.
(Reuters) – Tajikistan plans to create a volunteer-run body to monitor Internet use and reprimand those who openly criticize President Imomali Rakhmon and his government, the head of the Central Asian country’s state-run communications service said on Friday.
Beg Zukhurov said the organisation, while awaiting official registration, had already brought several Internet users to task for publishing “insults” against “well-known personalities” in the former Soviet republic.
“Volunteers for this organisation will track down and identify the authors of such comments,” Zukhurov told reporters. He did not elaborate on what might constitute critical comment.
Asked what would happen to anybody identified by the new organisation, he replied: “I don’t know. Probably, they will be shown the error of their ways.”
Rakhmon has ruled Tajikistan, a mountainous country of 7.5 million people bordering Afghanistan and China, for two decades. Though media operate with less restrictions than in neighboring Uzbekistan, journalists have been detained in recent months.
Rakhmon is widely expected to stand again for election by November 2013. Victory would secure seven more years as leader of the mainly Muslim country, whose economy is founded on aluminium and cotton exports and remittances from around 1 million migrant laborers.
Tighter Internet controls echo measures taken by other former Soviet republics in Central Asia, where authoritarian rulers are wary of the role social media played in revolutions in the Arab world and mass protests in Russia.
Government opponents in Tunisia and Egypt used Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to run rings around censors and organize protests that eventually toppled their leaders.
“There will be chaos,” said Parvina Ibodova, chairwoman of the Association of Internet Providers of Tajikistan. “The sacred principle of every journalist and every citizen – access to information – will be under threat.”
LECTURES
In a sign that authorities are already clamping down on public criticism, an 18-year-old student in Dushanbe said he had recently been detained overnight by the successor agency to the KGB after posting criticism of Rakhmon on his Facebook page.
The student, who was too afraid to be identified, said he had been lectured repeatedly on his conduct. He was not charged with any offence.
“They told me it was dangerous to ‘rally people against the president’ and that ‘everything he does is for the good of the people’,” he said. “It was scary. After that, I deleted all my social networking accounts.”
Tajikistan briefly blocked access to Facebook and two Russian-language sites that published an article critical of Rakhmon in March. The shutdown was ordered by the communications service, which works as a government agency.
via Tajikistan launches crackdown on Internet critics | Reuters.
DUSHANBE — The Central Asian state of Tajikistan has refused to show British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s satirical comedy “The Dictator” in its cinemas, claiming they are all full.
The film depicts a Middle Eastern-style camel-riding tyrant played by Baron Cohen. It went on release worldwide this week, opening in other Central Asian countries and Russia on Thursday.
“We do not have space to show it…. We just cannot show all the films,” said the director of a Tajik film distribution company, who asked not to be named.
But critics suggested the decision was down to the film’s provocative content.
“‘The Dictator’ will offend many people, it’s not likely to be supported by our viewers,” said film critic Lidiya Saidova.
Baron Cohen’s earlier film “Borat” about a fictitious journalist from Kazakhstan irritated the real-life Central Asian state so much that it banned the film, although its foreign minister recently thanked the makers for boosting tourism.
Tightly-controlled Tajikistan is the poorest of the ex-Soviet states, with much of its working age population earning a living abroad in construction and agriculture.
It has been ruled by strongman president Emomali Rakhmon since 1992.
Fellow Central Asian state of Turkmenistan also cold-shouldered the film since its cinemas now show no Hollywood films at all, with the only foreign films coming from India, an AFP correspondent said.
Copyright © 2012 AFP.
KHATLON, Tajikistan — An outspoken critic of the Uzbek and Tajik governments has reportedly been beaten by unknown assailants near his home in the Tajik town of Qurghon-Teppa.
Ethnic Uzbek Salim Shamsiddinov, 57, said three men attacked him on May 5, causing injuries to his head and legs. Shamsiddinov said he was rescued by a passing police officer.
The attack occurred the same day that Shamsiddinov was dismissed in absentia from his post as deputy chairman of the Foundation of Uzbeks in Tajikistan and head of the Foundation of Uzbeks in Khatlon province.
He is a lawyer by profession.
Police officials in the southern Khatlon province confirmed the incident, but declined to give details.
Shamsiddinov has been receiving medical treatment at home, saying he is “too afraid” about his security to stay in hospital.
The issues related to the media freedom will be discussed at a conference in Dushanbe on May 3, CA-News reports.
The new bill about media will also be discussed within the conference.
The participants of the event plan to develop recommendations, proposals on the improvement of media freedom in Tajikistan.
The conference will be organized under the initiative of the Media council with the financial support of the institute of open society – the fund of assistance in Tajikistan and the OSCE.
A government campaign against Islamic education and political movements in Tajikistan, prompted by an armed conflict with ’mujaheds’ in the Rasht valley, risks creating the very militancy it aims to prevent, write Sophie Roche and John Heathershaw.
On 4 January 2011, official and local sources confirmed that Government forces had killed Alovuddin Davlatov (aka Ali Bedak), the commander accused of having launched the attack, and the remnants of his groups. This news apparently brings to an end the military conflict between the Government and the self-styled ‘Mujaheds’ led by Davlatov and other former civil war commanders. However, the conflict itself, which has led to around 100 deaths, has had far wider repercussions that go beyond the terrible violence of Rasht.
via A recipe for radicalisation: the campaign against Islam in Tajikistan | openDemocracy.
If leadership change is an indicator of regime insecurity, then Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are Central Asia’s most stable political systems: Nursultan Nazarbaev and Islam Karimov have retained power ever since 1991. Similarly Tajikistan’s president appears to be in a relatively stable position: Rahmon has been in office since 1994, while he was Prime Minister from 1992 to 94. While it is too early to make any assessment of the nature of Atambaev’s regime in Kyrgyzstan, the Turkmen election has confirmed Berdymuhamedov’s plans to establish long-term rule, continuing Niyazov’s way.
Central Asia: succession planning in dictatorships | openDemocracy.
Nothing highlights the Tajik government’s efforts to forge a distinct national identity better than the country’s annual Novruz festivities. This year, officials emphasized Tajikistan’s Persian roots during the week-long celebration. Carefully stage-managed public events steered clear of religion and politics.
Banned for much of the Soviet period, the festival of Novruz – also, Nowruz, Nawruz and a few other alternatives – derives its name from the Persian for “New Day” and marks the arrival of spring. The holiday, centering on the vernal equinox, is celebrated in much of greater Central Asia, as well as parts of the Caucasus and by Turkey’s Kurdish minority, and is believed to have originated as the Zoroastrian New Year in ancient Persia. In 2009, it was added to UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In Tajikistan, the holiday has become part of the country’s quest for a new, post-Soviet national identity. As in many former Soviet republics, that quest has involved turning to the distant, sometimes mythologized past. For Tajikistan, where the primary language is closely related to modern Farsi and the Dari spoken in Afghanistan, tapping into the lore of ancient Persia is a logical way to distinguish Tajiks from the Slavs and Turkic peoples of formerly Soviet Central Asia.
“Blessed Novruz is the greatest and most beautiful festival for the Aryan people,” read banners quoting President Imomali Rahmon, displayed around the capital, Dushanbe. The ancient Aryans are believed to be forebears of today’s Persian-speaking peoples: “Iran” is a Persian word for “land of the Aryans,” and the ancient Greeks called the greater region including Afghanistan and present-day Tajikistan “Ariana.”
via Tajikistan Highlights Persian Roots with Novruz Celebration | EurasiaNet.org.
Tajikistan has been added to a US government list of the world’s 16 worst abusers of religious freedom.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), funded by Congress, has censured Tajikistan for “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief,” naming the country one of it’s “countries of particular concern.” In a report released March 20, USCIRF says Dushanbe “suppresses and punishes all religious activity independent of state control, and imprisons individuals on unproven criminal allegations linked to religious activity or affiliation.”
Elsewhere in Central Asia, USCIRF has long classified Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as “countries of particular concern” (CPC). The commission says it is closely monitoring Kazakhstan. Turkey also joined the CPC list this year.
The annual report offers recommendations to Congress, the secretary of state, and the president. The State Department issues its own yearly report on religious freedom, which takes into consideration the commission’s recommendations, but usually includes a shorter list of countries of particular concern and recommendations for sanctions. In the case of gas-rich Turkmenistan, though it has been on the commission’s CPC list since 2000, the State Department does not include it on its own list. The State Department has designated Uzbekistan, an essential ally in the Afghanistan war, as a CPC since 2006, but since 2009 has waved any punitive action.
This year, the commission graduated Tajikistan from its “watch list” partially because Dushanbe introduced harsh new legislation broadly affecting the country’s faithful, especially the Muslim majority. One new law “even limits parents’ choice of their children’s names.”
via Tajikistan Joins “World’s Worst Religious Freedom Violators”—US Report | EurasiaNet.org.
Tajikistan unblocks Facebook, news sites | ZDNet.
This past weekend, the Tajikistan government ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) to unblock Facebook, along with several independent news websites. The ban lasted about one week. The first site went down one week ago Friday and the rest were blocked on Saturday. The order to lift the ban came this past Friday, Facebook came back on Saturday, and the news websites soon followed, according to the Tajik news agency Asia Plus.
Throughout the week, users were able to access the blocked sites by using proxy servers. At least one ISP reportedly never followed the state-run communications service order.
The shutdown was ordered because the websites were critical to the president Emomali Rakhmon. The ISPs had different lists of blacklisted, but all of them included facebook.com, zvezda.ru, tjknews.com, and maxala.org. Users who tried to access these and other websites were automatically redirected to their ISPs home page.
Political website Zvezda was reportedly the first to go down, soon after publishing an article titled “Tajikistan on the eve of a revolution” that analyzed Rakhmon’s growing autocratic moves, which the author argued would bring country to the mass unrest. Local news site TJKNews republished the article.
Facebook was likely blocked because of how protesters in Arab countries and in Russia have used it to coordinate public rallies (see links below). Twitter, which has also been used for such purposes, was not banned.
Facebook’s usage is growing in Tajikistan, but its userbase is still quite minute: 29,000 as of February 2012. The social network’s penetration in Tajikistan is 0.39 percent compared to the country’s population and 4.15 percent in relation to the country’s Internet users, according to Socialbakers. Several Facebook groups openly discuss politics and some users have been critical of the authorities.
Since the rise of the Arab Spring, ex-Soviet countries in the Central Asian region, like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been imposing Internet restrictions. The leaders of those republics recognize the role that social media had in overthrowing existing regimes in countries, like Egypt and Libya. Following the trend, the government of Takijistan has ordered a shutdown of Facebook and two Russian news sites, which carried an article criticizing of the current regime. Local Internet providers who requested anonymity said that the shutdown was ordered by state run communications service. Users who tried to access the three sites were redirected to the homepages of their Internet service providers. The Russian news sites that were shut down were tjknews.com and zvezda.ru. The latter site is based in Russia and ran an article entitled, “Tajikistan on the eve of a revolution”. The former site tjknews.com, which is also a local site, republished the article.
Tajik Groups Condemn Blocking Of Facebook, News Websites.
Two rights groups have condemned Tajikistan’s state communications service for blocking Tajik users’ access to social-network website Facebook and several independent news sites.
Facebook and the Russian-language sites centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, and zvezda.ru on March 6 remained blocked in Tajikistan.
Access has been cut off since March 3, apparently in response to an order from government authorities.
Tajikistan’s Internet Service Providers Association denounced the move as a “direct threat” to Tajik national information security, according to the Tajik Civil Internet Policy Initiative’s website.
U.S.-based Freedom House has also condemned the Tajik government for regularly restricting access to websites critical of the government.
Tajik officials have cited “technical reasons” for the loss of access to the sites and pledged that the reported problem would be corrected “soon.”
via Tajikistan Blocks Facebook for “Prophylactic Maintenance,” Suggests Alternative | EurasiaNet.org.
Tajik Web users rail against online censorship – Washington Times.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Internet users and providers in Tajikistan are voicing concerns about online censorship after the government lifted a six-day ban on Facebook and several news websites last week.
“I assume the reasons for blocking Facebook is that its Tajik segment has become very active recently,” said Parvina Ibodova, president of theAssociation of Internet Providers in Tajikistan.
“There are many groups and pages that discuss current issues in Tajikistan, including politics. Moreover, prominent opposition figures actively use Facebook in their daily work.”
On March 2, Bek Zuhurov, deputy minister of transport and communications, ordered Tajikistan’s Internet service providers to deny access to several websites, including Facebook, for “technical and maintenance works.”
Facebook has about 30,000 users in Tajikistan, said Ms. Ibodova, who believes the websites were blocked because they contained content critical of the government.
Tajikistan’s government previously has blocked certain websites, but this month’s action marked the first time the country’s 1.9 million Internet users were denied access to a major social media site.
Dunja Mijatovic, who specializes in media freedom for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, wrote to Foreign MinisterHamrokhon Zarifi on March 5 expressing concerns about free speech on the Web.
Focusing on Tajikistan 