JUNE 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz parliamentarians voted to ban the Moscow-based news website fergana.ru for inciting ethnic hatred, media reported, raising questions over free speech. Last month parliamentarians also banned the Finnish author of a report that criticised security forces in ethnic violence last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 45, published on June 21 2011)
JUNE 16 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tajikistan arrested a local BBC reporter, Urinboy Usmonov, and accused him of belonging to the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Tajikistan has been fighting a growing Islamist insurgency in the past 12 months and has cracked down on media. The BBC called for his immediate release.
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(News report from Issue No. 45, published on June 21 2011)
JUNE 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan was preparing to hand over Uyghur asylum seeker Ershidin Israil to China where he is wanted on terrorism charges, US-based NGO Freedom House said. Freedom House said Mr Israil could possibly be tortured in China and it accused Kazakhstan of putting economic ties ahead of human rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 43, published on June 6 2011)
JUNE 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In its annual index on civil and political liberties around the world, the US-based human rights group Freedom House ranked Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the bottom eight. Separately, a UN investigation said reports of torture in Turkmenistan were “numerous”.
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(News report from Issue No. 43, published on June 6 2011)
MAY 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued a pardon freeing 70 people from prison including newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev, in jail since 2007 for inciting terrorism and drugs possession. Mr Fatullayev had written articles critical of the government and denies the charges. His supporters have always said the charges were false.
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(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – For years Europe has coveted Azerbaijan’s gas but until May 14 Azerbaijani pop music had been far less appreciated. Overnight that changed.
In Dusseldorf, Germany, in front of a TV audience estimated at 100m, pop duo Ell and Nikki won the Eurovision Song Contest for Azerbaijan and threw a glaring spotlight over the country.
Thousands poured out onto the streets of Baku to celebrate the unexpected win and President Ilham Aliyev was quick to praise the victory.
But winning was the easy bit. Now Azerbaijan has to put on a show worthy of the famously kitsch and super-glitzy competition which started in 1956 and has become one of the world’s most successful television franchises. Azerbaijan is the fourth former Soviet state and the second predominantly Muslim country, after Turkey in 2003, to win the contest.
Hosting the contest allows the venue city to bask in the limelight and showcase its attractions but it also lets others peer in. When Moscow hosted the contest in 2009, the gay rights lobby grabbed its moment and dominated the headlines.
This year anti-government demonstrations have already put Azerbaijan’s leadership under increasing pressure. It has contained the anti-government movement by arresting potential leaders, raiding opposition headquarters and banning demonstrations.
Now, with human rights groups already questioning their commitment to freedom of speech, Azerbaijan’s leaders will face a year of scrutiny until the Eurovision Song Contest next May.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced 20-year-old opposition activist Jabbar Savalan to 2-1/2 years in prison for drugs possession. Police arrested Savalan for carrying opium in February immediately after he had called for a “Day of Rage” on Facebook, a networking website. Amnesty International said the charges were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
MAY 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In its annual global press freedom index, the United States-based group Freedom House ranked Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as the second and third-worst countries for media freedom. Only North Korea was ranked lower in the 196- country index.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan deported three Swedish journalists who had tried to film an anti-government protest, said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The authorities told the journalists, who worked for Swedish state broadcaster Sveriges Television, they did not have the correct accreditation.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Azerbaijan once again snuffed out an anti-government protest. Using tactics which have proved effective in countering protests this year, police detained protesters before they had barely unfurled a banner. Reuters quoted the Prosecutor-General saying that police detained 65 protesters and later released 25.
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(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)