Global Voices Advocacy » Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan: The Enemies of the Internet are Known

Ekaterina — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:03:52 +0000

Symbol of the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, Reporters Without Borders

Yesterday, 12 March was the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship. Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2008, the initiative is intended to promote the idea of Internet without restrictions and accessible to everyone.

Recently Reporters Without Borders have published a list of countries, that are considered to be The Enemies of the Internet. The list includes 10 countries: Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The Internet censorship and persecution of bloggers is usual in these countries. There is also a list of Countries (16) Under Surveillance where freedom of expression online is under risk and there are some attempts of the governments to control the Internet.

The map of Cyber-censorship, march12.rsf.org

Thus, the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship initiative is an attempt to attract attention of civil society to limitation of the freedom of speech in online media.

RSF reports:

The year 2010 firmly established the role of social networks and the Internet as mobilisation and news transmission tools, especially during the Arab spring. New and traditional media have proven to be increasingly complementary. Meanwhile, repressive regimes have intensified censorship, propaganda and repression, keeping 119 netizens in jail. Issues such as national security - linked to the WikiLeaks publications - and intellectual property - are challenging democratic countries' support to online free speech.

For instance, in Uzbekistan - one of the countries mentioned by RSF as an Enemy of the Internet, all opposition websites and sites that report on real conditions in the country are banned. Among them are not only websites of local and Russian news agencies, such as ferghana.ru, Neweurasia.net, Uzmetronom.com, Eurasianet.org, but also international ones like BBC.com and Alazeera.net.

This is what Uzbekistan-based users see when trying to access neweurasia.net’s URL directly:

Screen-capture when accessing neweurasia.net, image from neweurasia.net

Also, browser requests are often replaced with other unrelated requests (www.msn.com, for example).

On March 11, 2011 RSF published an article on Internet access and online journalism in Uzbekistan. The RSF researchers came to the conclusion:

As long as Uzbek authorities continue to demonstrate a growing interest in controlling the Net, and there is no civil society truly capable of resisting them – even online – or any significant international pressures, prospects look dark for freedom of expression in Uzbekistan’s cyberspace

Cyber censorship in Uzbekistan includes not only news outlets but also social networks, blogging platforms, mail services, etc. For this reason many Uzbek users find tools (proxy-servers) that enable them to securely circumvent this censorship. Many understand that the simplest way to circumvent cyber-censorship is to use a browser proxy. Many are free of charge and allow access to most of the blocked Internet resources through a browser.

The most popular and user-friendly browser proxies are Your Freedom, Tor, HotSpotShield, Psiphon.

More detailed information about circumvention tools, including those mentioned in this message, can be found at sesawe.net .

Video lessons on the configuration and use of proxy-servers with subtitles in different languages are available here.

Uzbekistan: Criminal Charges Filed Against Documentary Photographer Umida Akhmedova

Alexey Sidorenko — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:55:37 +0000

Umida Akhmedova, photo by Fergana.ru

Umida Akhmedova, the Uzbek [EN] documentary photographer, has been accused of insult and slander against Uzbek people and traditions, reports Fergana.ru [EN]. The maximum penalty for these charges includes remedial work on two up to three years or detention for up to six months.

According to Umida Akhmedova, captain Nodir Akhmadzhanov, investigator of the Tashkent [EN] city police department, told her that the criminal charges have been filed against all local authors who cooperated with the Gender Program of the Swiss Embassy. Akhmedova is incriminated in the production of “Women and men: from dawn till dusk” photo album [EN - phtos], produced in 2007 under support of Swiss Embassy Gender Program, writes Fergana.ru. There's no information on other authors against whom the charges were filed. The website continues:

The investigator explained Umida Akhmedova that the case against her was produced, based on conclusions of Tashkent public prosecutor’s office experts, noting that the album “is the insult and slander of Uzbek people”. At the same time, it is absolutely unclear which photo (not the photomontage, not the screen version) may be “slander” or “insult”. It is also not clear who and when authorized Uzbek agency for press and information, the state structure, to represent the outraged honor of Uzbek people.

Umida Akhmedova shared first time she was called by police on November 17. Captain Nodir Akhmadzhanov invited her to Mirabad RDIA to give the report of witness on her “Women and men: from dawn to dusk” album. The investigator interviewed Umida for two hours and asked questions, related to Akhmedova’s participation in the production of photo album and as such movies as “Men and women: rites and ritual” and “The burden of virginity” EN] (Torrent can be downloaded here [RU]).

International society of photographers and artists reacted by issuing a petition in defence of Akhmedova [Google Translation - EN]. In the letter of “Protest and Anger” International Coalition of Journalists “Caucasia” expressed extreme disturbance with the fact of charges.

Весь сюжет – пример мракобесия и отката от демократических стандартов, к которым, на словах, так тяготеет Узбекистан. Весь мир хорошо знает, что Программа Швейцарского посольства – это комплекс гуманитарных, образовательных и просветительских проектов. Надо подчеркнуть, что Умида Ахмедова – одна из авторов, сотрудничавших с Программой на протяжении последних лет. Она участвовала также в ряде других международных программ и проектов. Мы, ее коллеги, знаем Умиду не только как талантливого автора, но и как истинную патриотку своей страны. Благодаря работам Умиды, Узбекистан узнали и полюбили тысячи людей в мире.

The whole story is an example of obscurantism and the rollback of democratic standards, which are so praised, in words only, by the Uzbekistan government. The whole world knows that the program of the Swiss embassy is a complex of humanitarian, educational and outreach projects. It must be emphasized that Umida Akhmedova is one of the authors who collaborated with the Program in recent years. She has also participated in several international programs and projects. We, her colleagues know Umida not only as a talented author, but as a true patriot of her country. Thanks to Umida's work, lots of people around the world found out about Uzbekistand and loved this country.

So far about 400 signatures have been collected from dozens of countries. The news of the criminal charges against Akhmedova reached the Russian-speaking blogosphere on December 17, while the event is almost not covered by English-speaking media.

Lj-user vaskodagala says [Google translation - EN] such advocacy campaigns can really help people and asks everyone to sign the petition. The last time it was campaign to get Umida Niyazova out of the jail and out of the country (Coverage of the campaign is available here [EN]). Vaskodagala claims she personally knows Akhmedova and couldn't believe the thing will get that bad:

Но я думала, с нашей Умидой такого не случится - хоть кого заболтает и рассмешит, какое там ей дело пришьешь, Господи? Я так думала. Ан нет. Месяц мы с ней выжидали - она говорила, подожди, мож угомонятся. Год назад у нас был такой сюжет в Кыргызстане - тогда угомонились, точно. А тут нет - Умидку нашу из разряда свидетелей перевели в обвиняемые. И круг сужают - на пустейшем, подчеркну, месте. Национальные традиции она им оклеветала.

But I thought it cannot happen to our Umida - she can make laugh everyone, oh Lord, what can one accuse her of? I thought so. But not now. We waited for a month - she said: ‘wait, maybe they will calm down'. We had almost the same story in Kyrgyzstan a year ago - then we managed to settle things down. But not now - Umida's status was changed from the witnesses to the accused. And they narrow down the circle - on absolutely no basis. You see, she slandered their national traditions.

The petition can be signed here [Google Translation - EN].

Many bloggers who discuss Akhmedova's case ask themselves how it is that a documentary photographer can defame her own people and traditions by making pictures. Moreover, it's absolutely absurd, that a person who in fact documents lives is accused of falsifying them.

Akhmedova's pictures are touching and unusual. They carefully depict the everyday life of Uzbek society. Here are just couple of them.

Uzbek children sitting in crocks, photo by Umida Ahmedova. Courtesy of Fergana.ru

A Girl By The Window, photo by Umida Akhmedova, courtesy of Fergana.ru

More pictures are available at Fergana.ru [RU]

***
Umida Akhmedova's bio (according to UZSCI)
Born on 21.10.1955 in Parkent [RU], Uzbekistan
1977 - 1981 - Study in Community College, city of Vladimir, Russia
1981 - 1986 - Study in the All-Russian State University of Cinematography [EN], Moscow, Russia
1970 - 1990 - operator at the Uzbek Newsreel
2000 - present - member of the creative union of the Academy of Fine Arts

Uzbekistan: Fighting internet censorship

Tolkun — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:45:15 +0000

Today, Uzbekistan is remaining one of the repressive countries in the region that maintains a tight grip on mass media. Despite it has all the nominal guarantees of the freedom of speech, the media is being systematically attacked by the government. The article 5 in the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on mass media [ru] states that mass media in the country are free and can act freely according the laws of the country. In the same law, the article 7 states that there is no censorship in the country and “no one has a right to demand the preliminary approval of the publishing materials, and change or take them off from publication (broadcasting).” However, we witness de facto contradicting de jure in Uzbekistan.

The blogosphere of Uzbekistan today is discussing the action to fight with internet censorship in Uzbekistan. The open-ended action was organized by the Information Agency Fergana.ru, Uznews.net and a blog Civil Society in Uzbekistan. The organizers state that the ban on independent and unbiased information became total following the Andijon events in 2005, and today several hundreds of websites are made not accessible via state controlled internet providers. Blog “Civic Society in Uzbekistan” urges all blocked websites to join the action. “As part of the campaign,” they write, “websites that cannot be accessed in Uzbekistan are encouraged to post, on their main pages, an emblem stating they have been banned, fully or partially, in Uzbekistan” [ru].

BBC Uzbek Service cites the organizers stating that the open-ended action will last until the government of Uzbekistan takes positive steps in improving the state of media and abolishing the censorship in the country [uz].

A blog Though the Eyes of Uzbekistani writes that one of the reasons for them to join the action against censorship is that they are blocked in Uzbekistan, and the blog’s authors cannot directly update the blog.

Unfortunately, the blocking of websites and Information resources is continuing in Uzbekistan. Our blog is also blocked in the country. For us, authors, it is really difficult to update the blog in Uzbekistan. Our friends outside of Uzbekistan are helping in overcoming this problem, as today, even proxy servers are not of use, especially when it comes to posting different attachments and photographs.

I had a chance to interview one of the authors of the blog Though the Eyes of Uzbekistani about the action to fight internet censorship. He seems to be pessimistic about the goals of the action, as he believes that they are not going to change the situation a lot, if at all. “The action will fail, as the main target group – Uzbekistani population – does not have access to it. It will become another try to draw international community's attention to the problems in Uzbekistan, and nothing more. However, we must try,” he says.

However there not many websites joined the action, the organizers are optimistic saying that it will attract more attention soon, as the action has just begun. The other popular blogs that are blocked in Uzbekistan are neweurasia (blocked in June 2006), Registan (blocked in March 2007), Global Voices Online, and opposition blogs Turonzamin and Yangidunyo.

Also posted on neweurasia.net

Introduction about censorship in Uzbekistan

Kristina Dolgih — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:05:30 +0000

Introduction about censorship in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s mass media law article 5 about freedom of mass media tells: ”Mass media in Uzbek Republic are free… everyone has a right to perform in mass media, to express his or her opinion and persuasion openly if it does not contradict to the law… mass media are responsible for objectivity and authenticity of the spreaded information”

Article 7 of the same law is about inadmissibility of censorship: “Censorship in mass media in Uzbek Republic is not admissible”.

De jure, mass media in Uzbekistan are free of governmental control within the law. De facto, some blogs are blocked by government because of any negative and critical information concerning president and Uzbekistan generally.

Internet in Uzbekistan is provided by UzNet, governmental provider, to other Uzbek internet providers. One of the governmental censorship mechanisms is blocking blogs through Internet-café. Sometimes administrators of Internet-café schedule “suspicious” sites which contradict to the governmental plan to the black list. Thus not only local blogs could be blocked, but any “shady” foreign blogs too. Another way of blocking realizes by blocking through general server.

There are cases, when the government justifies its censorship activity by saying that it wants to protect young people from inauthentic information about the independent state.

Uzbek government prosecutes bloggers, who express their opinion about negative side of Uzbekistan, by several means:

Sometimes bloggers summon to the police for brainwashing
Bloggers could be fired or could have problems with searching a job under pretence of various circumstances.
Bloggers are responsible for the posted information, because the Internet is equated with mass media. If the information is not desirable for the government, it could be evaluated as erroneous. In this case the government could institute administrative proceedings against blogger at first and then even criminal proceeding.

According to the source there were no trials against bloggers yet.

Now Uzbek bloggers have problems with renewal of their blogs. Sometimes in order to post information they send it by e-mail to their friends outside Uzbekistan and they publish it. This situation reduces democratic processes in the country. Not all bloggers have reliable friends outside the country and to make a request to post your new article every time is not comfortable. By the words of the source, now the main task is to teach Uzbek bloggers to renew their blocked blogs in such circumstances. The source calls for help of foreign specialists to find solution for Uzbek bloggers.

Uzbekistan blocks Newsuz.com website

Sami Ben Gharbia — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:16:55 +0000

It has been reported that the Uzbek-language website Newsuz.com has been blocked in Uzbekistan. “After a series of critical publications on human rights issues, gas supply issues, and price growth, and also analytical publications on the recent elections, we began receiving letters with threats and demands to follow information posted on government sites. We did not do that and, as a result, out site was blocked,” Newsuz.Com editor-in-chief Aziz Nosirov said.

The Uzbek government has often denied the existence of Internet filtering: “We live in the era of computer technologies, and all statements that the Internet is somehow censored or anything are a height of naivete,” former Foreign minister Eljer Ganiyev once declared.

However, and according to the Open Net Initiative (ONI), Uzbekistan maintains the most extensive and pervasive filtering system among tested Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced on November 7 2006 that Uzbekistan is among the 13 countries that the NGO labels “Enemies of the Internet“.