Weekly News Wrap

This week in Central Asia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticised a proposed media bill in Kazakhstan that would, if passed by the parliament, impose stronger restrictions on the media, a Russian online newspaper reported on Tuesday. OSCE said the bill, which would introduce high registration fees for media outlets, while requiring re-registration for others, was restrictive and called on Astana to withdraw the bill. The government, which is lobbying for chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009, said that the bill had been necessary to reduce the number of news outlets and to ensure public trust in the media. Kyrgyz authorities on Thursday accused the US-funded NGO, Freedom House, of tax evasion, saying it had been evading payments since their activities started in 2002 in the impoverished Central Asian state, English General News reported. Freedom House conducts advocacy, research and training to encourage democracy and promotes press freedom in developing countries. This is the first move against a US-funded NGO in the republic. Many such organisations in neighbouring Uzbekistan have been forced to close over the past year. In Turkmenistan, Ogulsapar Muradova, a freelance journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)’s Turkmen Service was arrested in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, RFE/RL reported on Monday. The police also took Muradova’s three adult children and did not produce warrants when arresting them on Monday. Media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called on Thursday for their immediate release, AP reported. Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised concerns on Wednesday over the sentencing of two local rights activists by an Uzbek court to lengthy prison terms and the arrest of another activist last week, RFE/RL reported. Azamjon Farmonov and Alisher Karamatov were sentenced to nine years each on blackmailing charges - something HRW said was “a politically motivated effort to stop their human rights work”. According to HRW, 11 rights campaigners have been convicted this year in the Central Asian nation, saying the authorities in the country were trying to silence dissent by prosecuting human rights defenders. Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiev criticised state officials on Monday for poor discipline, RFE/RL reported. He threatened to take action against those who took vacation before the end of December and stressed that it was “time to work, not rest”. Bakiev also told his cabinet that priority should be given to investment in the country, on infrastructure and on the 2007 state budget. He also said that the motto of the government should be “iron discipline, order and accountability”.