Tag Archives: human rights

Tashkent limits internet cafe access

FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tashkent have started to enforce restrictions which limit access to the internet cafes that line the streets of the capital.
Under the new rules, internet cafes have to close by 9pm and minors are banned from them during school hours.

Internet cafes are important in Uzbekistan where the media is predominantly state-controlled and home internet access is severely limited.

The authorities say they want to protect Uzbekistan’s youth from the seedier side of the internet as well as from recruitment videos from the radical group IS. Human rights groups say the real reason is to block free media.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Uzbekistan blocks rights activist

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two Uzbek human rights campaigners said they had been prevented from leaving Uzbekistan to pick up awards in South Korea. Shukhrat Rustamov and Elena Urlaeva said they had been denied exit visas to receive the Tji Haksoon Peace Award on March 11. Uzbek citizens need to apply for an exit visa to leave the country.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Azerbaijani activist detention extended

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku ordered the pre-trial detention of human rights activist Arif Yunus to be extended by five months, local media reported. Mr Yunus is the husband of Leyla Yunus who has also been arrested on accusations of treason. Both have denied the charges and said that they are politically motivated.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

EU rights envoy flies to Baku

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU’s special envoy for human rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, flew to Azerbaijan for a visit that is expected to culminate in a critical evaluation of the Azerbaijani government. Human rights groups urged Mr Stavros to use his trip to pressure the authorities into releasing various prisoners.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Azerbaijani reporter hiding in Swiss embassy

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss television reported that Emin Huseynov, a journalist and critic of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, has been hiding in Switzerland’s embassy in Baku for six months. It said Mr Huseynov took refuge in the embassy to avoid being arrested. Human rights groups criticise Azerbaijan’s recent record.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Uzbekistan frees political prisoners

>>Releases linked to election in March>>

FEB. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan unexpectedly released Khayrulla Khamidov a sports commentator imprisoned in 2010.

As well as being a soccer commentator, Mr Khamidov was a popular religious speaker who had a large following. He produced CDs and spoke at weddings on social issues.

When he was arrested, on charges of setting up an illegal religious organisation, his supporters said it was an attempt by the authorities to dampen a popular social commentator who they considered was a growing threat to stability. He was imprisoned for six years.

Mr Khamidov’s release, then, appears to be a large concession. Human rights groups have long criticised Uzbekistan for its harsh record against religion. Perhaps, though, this is beginning to change.

The Tashkent-based Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Advocates of Uzbekistan has said 16 other religious prisoners were released alongside Mr Khamidov.

No official reason for the release has been given although ordinary Uzbeks believe it is linked to a presidential election set for March 29.

Uzbekistan is in flux at the moment. Islam Karimov, who has ruled over the country since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, is increasingly frail. The election in March and what goes before and after it are increasingly important to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Civil rights fall across the region

EDINBURGH/NEW YORK, FEB. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Civil freedoms in Central Asia and the South Caucasus took a turn for the worse in 2014 as governments moved closer to Russia and worried that street demonstrations in Ukraine may spread, Freedom House said in an interview.

The sharpest deterioration in civil rights in 2014, according to the US-based lobby group, came in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan.

“Governments restricted freedom of assembly and speech to prevent ‘maidans’ and Russian encouragement of separatism,” Nate Schenkkan, a Eurasia Programme Officer at Freedom House, said in an interview with The Bulletin. Schenkkan’s reference to so-called maidans was to Ukrainian street demonstrations which morphed into a full scale revolution.
The interview was conducted over twitter with questions also taken from viewers.

At the end of last year Azerbaijani police raided the office of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In the interview with The Bulletin, Schenkkan said the police raid was the culmination of a tough year for media and government critics in Azerbaijan.

“There was a full-scale crackdown. Now (there are) 90 plus political prisoners, all independent media shuttered in Azerbaijan,” he said. “Sanctions for Azerbaijani officials should be on the table and EU leaders should skip the European Games.” Azerbaijan is hosting the inaugural European Games later this year.

As for Kyrgyzstan, Schenkkan said new legislation had dented Kyrgyzstan’s image.

“Kyrgyzstan is the most disappointing because it is a reversal after relative gains recently,” he said. “Copycat attempts at Russian legislation against LGBTI and NGOs nearly passed.”
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(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

UN criticises Kazakh clampdown

JAN. 28. 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Wrapping up a mission to Kazakhstan, the UN’s special rapporteur Maina Kiai said he was disturbed to hear from Kazakh officials that they had decided to clamp down on protests because they worried about a Ukraine style rebellion.
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(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015

MP defends Azerbaijan’s human rights record

JAN. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Samad Seyidov, a pro-president Azerbaijani MP, said Azerbaijan hasn’t imprisoned anybody for their political beliefs. Mr Seyidov was countering criticism of a crackdown on human rights by Azerbaijan. The day before another opposition journalist had been jailed for so-called hooliganism.
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(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015)

Azerbaijan and US argue over new embassy

>>The US says Azerbaijan has made the issue political>>

JAN. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Azerbaijani government cancelled a property agreement with the US on construction of a new embassy building in Baku because of criticism of its election in 2013, a US State Department report released this month said.

Relations between Azerbaijan and the US have nose-dived recently. Last month, Azerbaijani police raided the office of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the US government.

The State Department’s report adds more evidence that relations between the two countries has worsened.

“The mission’s top management priority is the construction of a new embassy building to replace the overcrowded and physically vulnerable 100-year-old chancery and a separate commercial annex one mile away,” the US State department report wrote.

“The Azerbaijani Government has frustrated at least seven US site acquisition efforts over the past decade. Most recently, the government cancelled a signed property agreement after the United States criticised the 2013 election.”

Azerbaijan has pressured human rights activists and independent media over the past few years, attracting heavy criticism from the US and Europe.

Azerbaijani political analyst Zardusht Alizade agreed the Azerbaijani authorities were using the row over the building of a new US embassy in Baku to frustrate the US.

“The Azerbaijani government does not want American embassy to extend here and to hire more people,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)