OCT. 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in the northern Tajik town of Khujand convicted a local BBC reporter, Urunboy Usmonov, of illegal links to an Islamic group and sentenced him to three years in jail. Under a general amnesty decreed in September, the judge immediately released Usmonov. The BBC said Usmonov had been tortured.
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(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)
OCT. 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan sold cotton worth $550m at its annual cotton fair, local media reported, despite increasing scrutiny over allegations it uses children to pick the harvest. This is roughly the same amount as last year. Local media reported that none of the companies that signed deals at the fair in Tashkent were from Europe or the US.
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(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)
OCT. 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Turkmenistan jailed for five years a local reporter working for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for driving a family member to attempt suicide. In July, Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev had been one of a handful of reporters to expose a government cover-up over blasts at a military depot near Ashgabat.
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(News report from Issue No. 60, published on Oct. 11 2011)
OCT. 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Turkmenistan went on trial accused of driving a family member to suicide, the media group said. In July, Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev reported on explosions at a town near Ashgabat that the government had tried to cover up. RFE/RL said the charges against him were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)
SEPT. 29 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Overriding concerns about its human rights record, US President Barack Obama asked Uzbek President Islam Karimov to boost the capacity of a NATO supply line running through Uzbekistan to Afghanistan, media reported. The US is shifting supplies to the Northern Distribution Network, from Pakistan where its relationship with the government has soured.
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(News report from Issue No. 59, published on Oct. 4 2011)
SEPT. 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a draft law that restricts Muslims’ right to worship in the workplace and requires missionaries of all religions to register with the authorities every year. The draft law is part of a raft of new legislation in Kazakhstan to try and clampdown on militant Islam.
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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)
SEPT. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups have been celebrating a double victory over Uzbekistan this month, a regime they revile for its authoritarian manner and alleged use of torture and child labour. Uzbekistan denies the allegations.
Both successes came through the fashion industry.
First on Sept. 9 2011, under pressure from human rights groups, New York Fashion Week cancelled a show by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
Then on Sept. 12/13, 60 of the world’s top clothing labels — including British fashion house Burberry, Swedish high street retailer H&M, jean maker Levi’s and sports brands Adidas and Puma — said they had signed a pledge not to buy cotton from Uzbekistan that has been picked by children.
Rights groups have documented how the Uzbek state forces children to leave their classrooms for a few weeks each autumn to harvest the cotton. They estimates that up to 2m children are affected. Alongside gold and gas, cotton is one of the regime’s biggest foreign currency earners.
On previous trips to Uzbekistan, the editor of The Conway Bulletin has met university students in the capital Tashkent who said that unless they picked their quota of cotton, they could not graduate.
New York Fashion Week’s snub to Ms Karimova, is just that — a high profile snub. The boycott by leading clothing brands is altogether more serious.
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(News report from Issue No. 57, published on Sept. 19 2011)
SEPT. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a major publicity coup for human rights activists, organisers of New York Fashion Week cancelled a show planned by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Human rights groups accuse Karimov of blocking democracy and of torture. He denies the accusations.
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(News report from Issue No. 56, published on Sept. 12 2011)
AUG. 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Baku sentenced human rights lawyer Khalid Bagirov to three years in prison for interfering in a 2010 parliamentary election. The authorities in Azerbaijan have jailed a number of anti-government protesters this year. Police arrested Bagirov in April during an anti-government protest. He said he has been jailed for reporting vote rigging.
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(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)
AUG. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kazakhstan blocked access to 13 websites, including the popular Russian language LiveJournal, because it said militant Islamists were using them to publish propaganda. Kazakhstan occasionally blocks websites used by militants and opposition leaders. Rights groups say Kazakhstan’s attitude towards the internet is authoritarian.
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(News report from Issue No. 54, published on Aug. 30 2011)