16 Aug 11 | Index Index, minipost
A rights activist in central Uzbekistan says she was detained on 15 August for an article in which she criticised the government requirement that citizens use state-issued bank cards for cash withdrawals or purchases. Saida Kurbanova told RFE/RL she was summoned to the Pakhtakor district police station in Jizzakh Province where she was “dragged up the stairs” by officers. She was released after several hours. Kurbanova added that police told her she is being sued for libel over the article she wrote and posted online in March about the difficulties faced by people using the state-issued cards.
15 Jul 11 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Saodat Omonova, one of two women journalists protesting media censorship in Uzbekistan, has ended her hunger strike after being hospitalised earlier this week. It had been 16 days since Omonova and colleague, Malohat Eshonqulova, had begun their hunger strike after they were arrested and fined for protesting outside the presidential palace. The pair were were fired from state television channel Yoshlar last December, three days after they staged protests against media censorship. They are still fighting a court battle to appeal their initial dismissal.
28 Jun 11 | Index Arts, Index Index, minipost
Uzbek journalists, Malohat Eshonqulova and Saodat Omonova, have been detained and fined 2.94 million soms (around £1000) for holding an unauthorized protest on Monday morning.
The two women, who have now begun a hunger strike, held up placards in front of the presidential palace in Tashkent which read “Dear Islam Karimov, please grant us an audience”.
The pair were arrested after around four hours of protesting on 27 June, a day officially marked by Uzbekistan as the “Day of Media Workers“. Eshonqulova and Omonova were fired from state television channel Yoshlar last December, three days after they staged protests against media censorship and are still fighting a court battle to appeal their dismissal.
13 Jun 11 | Index Index, minipost
Recent developments in a libel trial involving Uzebkistan’s first family have raised concerns about the EU’s involvement with the Karimov family. The claim was brought by President Karimov’s daughter, Lola, against French website Rue89 after one reporter branded her father a “dictator”. Documents produced in court last week, which were originally intended to establish the credibility of the family, have raised questions about why the EU was communicating with Lola Karimov-Tillyaeva about the allocation of $3.7m worth of charitable funding.
