Tag Archives: media

Protesters rally against Azerbaijan’s President

NOV. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Several hundred people protested against a crackdown by the authorities in Azerbaijan against the media, a rare protest in this increasingly heavily policed state.

A Bulletin correspondent said that the demonstration in Baku was good natured and had a festival-like atmosphere with flag waving, folk music and dancing.

Police tried to block reporters from speaking to demonstrators and from filming the march but they eventually relented.

Shakar Isgandarli was one of the demonstrators.

“I am a teacher of two political prisoners, Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli,” he said. “I taught them to fight against injustice. And they did. Now the Aliyev regime has jailed them for this”.

Europe and the United States have made increasingly harsh statements about the crackdown by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the media but, seemingly, without much impact. Virtually every week, reports from Azerbaijan say that another anti-government activist has been imprisoned.

Mammadli and Suleymanli are two human rights lawyers who were imprisoned earlier this year for tax evasion and illegal business activities. They have said that these charges have been fabricated.

Protesters called for the resignation of Mr Aliyev and vowed to continue protests. The risk for Mr Aliyev is that although the police and prosecutors have been effective at imprisoning government critics, the arrests are stirring more anti-government feelings.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Azerbaijan detains talk show host

OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan sentenced Khalid Garayev, a talk show host, to 25 days in detention for alleged hooliganism, media reported. Garayev said the charges were politically motivated. EU and US media lobbyists have accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on media that the authorities dislike.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Uzbekistan cut MIR-TV

OCT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan stopped broadcasting the pan-CIS MIR TV shortly after a summit meeting of the CIS heads of state in Minsk, media reported. No official reason for cutting the broadcast was given although it does reduce, again, the amount of TV news that ordinary Uzbeks can watch.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Tajik opposition demo fails

OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A planned opposition demonstration in central Dushanbe failed to materialise after the authorities blocked websites and social media outlets and used a riot exercise as a show of force.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)

Exiled opposition figures have called for a change of government.

Tajikistan cuts internet access

OCT. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Access to various social media and news websites in Tajikistan was blocked, media and sources reported. The government has not officially said that it blocked the websites. It has previously blocked access to facebook and other sites, though, to prevent opposition groups from rallying support.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Tajik opposition prepares for campaign

OCT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik opposition groups based abroad are preparing to challenge the political order built up by strongman President Emomali Rakhmon head of the otherwise predictable parliamentary elections set for Feb. 14.

Against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine and the stand-off on the streets of Hong Kong, exiled Tajik politicians have been making calls for the overthrow of Mr Rakhmon via the Internet.

One group, Gruppa 24, is promoting a demonstration against the regime on Oct. 10 on the main square in Dushanbe. The government has responded to the threat by shutting down Facebook and other websites where the the group issued calls to protest.

More menacingly, the country’s services held a bizarre simulation of a protest being put down by riot police.

Having experienced civil war in the 1990s, appetite for revolution among Tajiks is weak, and Gruppa 24’s Turkey- based leader, Umrali Quvvatov lacks the political influence in Tajikistan to pull off a coup. Nevertheless, the government’s response to the calls betrays fear, and Mr Quvvatov told the Conway Bulletin via Skype he expects a strong turnout at the protest.

“Tajiks have given up too much for this criminal regime. If the government responds to our meeting with force we will do the same. We are preparing for war,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Uzbekistan passed new media laws

SEPT. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have passed a law restricting articles that bloggers can publish online. The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported bloggers cannot publish stories that defame the honour of individuals. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s tightest media laws.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

OSCE media criticises Azerbaijan

JULY 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticised Azerbaijan for giving two bloggers prison sentences this yea. OSCE media chief Dunja Mijatovic said: “The list of individuals imprisoned in Azerbaijan for exercising their right to free speech is growing very rapidly.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Azerbaijan’s media freedom cracks

JUNE 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media lobby group Reporters Without Borders accused Azerbaijan of sentencing opposition newspaper editor Hilal Mammadov to five years in jail on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking, inciting hatred and treason. Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court had the day before upheld a sentenced passed in September 2013 against Mammadov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)

Tajikistan blocks YouTube,Facebook

JUNE 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tajikistan have blocked access to both YouTube and Facebook, betraying their fear of the web.

With Tajikistan’s major internet providers offering inconsistent explanations for the connection breakdown, many people reached the conclusion that the state’s communications service is behind the block.

It’s a tactic they have used previously.

Tajikistan blocked YouTube when violence broke out in the eastern province of Gorno-Badakshan in 2012, and again last year when a clip of President Emomali Rakhmon singing drunk at his son’s wedding went viral.

Umrana, 23, a Tajik blogger now living in Bishkek said that despite internet penetration of less than 10% in Tajikistan, its appeal to the aspirational middle class is what worries the government most.

“There is a legend that an Austria-Hungarian Emperor wouldn’t allow construction of railroads because he thought it would transport the French revolution. Our emperors are the same,” he said. “When they think of YouTube, they think of movement, unrest, threats.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)