Freedom of Speech

The Uzbekistan Information Agency cooperates closely with the presidential staff to prepare and distribute all officially sanctioned news and information. Nearly all newspapers are government owned and controlled; the key newspapers are organs of government ministries.

Limited numbers of foreign periodicals are available, but the Government does not allow the general distribution of foreign newspapers. The Government does not permit rebroadcast of Russian news programming by private television stations. Four state-run channels that fully support the Government and its policies dominate television broadcasting.

The Government refused to allow the Voice of America to broadcast from within Uzbekistan. Voice of America broadcasts on a short wave from outside the country. The BBC World Service was required to broadcast on a very low FM frequency, which limited the potential audience. The BBC, when it began operations, consented to restrictions that amounted to self-censorship.

The World Service was permitted to broadcast only 2 hours per day, 7 days per week. In the first half of 2002 some of the BBC's programming was jammed. Chinese language music was played over BBC programming from precisely the moment broadcasting began until precisely the moment the programming ended.

Since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the administration of President Islam Karimov has substantially impeded the development of free press. Article 29 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and information and article 67 bans censorship. However, the media do not enjoy these rights in practice. In May 2002, the state ended formal censorship of the press by shifting responsibility directly to editors. In June 2002, President Karimov's administration officials set an example of noncompliance and removed the chief editor of the weekly newspaper Mohiyat following the publication of an article on press freedom. Other newspaper editors quickly hired former government censors to vet all material prior to publication. The result is the same as that which occurred under state-mandated censorship. Impartial disclosure of President Karimov's violations of Constitution remains a criminal offense. Critical journalists frequently experience harassment, death threats, and physical violence. Radio and television stations are subject to annual re-registration. The President Karimov administration has used this process to revoke the licences of unsympathetic broadcasters. The state controls all aspects of printing and distribution. The government dominates the main journalists' union, and there are no independent journalist associations.

Why was publishing dangerous?

Reporters Without Borders
(page 1, par. 1)

Several cybercafés have sprung up in the capital, Tashkent, but the US organisation Internews says customers have to promise in writing not to send "political or religious" e-mails. So self-censorship is routine in a country where no independent media are allowed.

Human Rights Internet
("Freedom of opinion and expression, Special Rapporteur on", par. 2)

...He was accused of anti-government activities and charged under article 159 of the Criminal Code for having published some of these poems on a web site.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(Word format, Page 61, Azamat Mamankulov and Ruslan Sharipov)

...were reportedly sitting in an Internet café in Aleishi Market in Tashkent on the evening of 21 October 2002 when Azamat Mamankulov was called by someone. Two people reportedly grabbed him (one of whom reportedly lived in his house), twisted his arms to his back and hit him on the head. Ruslan Sharipov was said to have been stopped from leaving the café and told that "his time would come and that he would be spitting blood". During the arrest, they reportedly told onlookers that they were from the 7th District SNB office in Uzbekistan.