DUSHANBE, May 12, 2016 Asia-Plus — A number of leading local and foreign news websites have been blocked in Tajikistan.
Websites of
Asia-Plus
news agency,
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service
and
Ozodagon
news agency as well as several other news websites have been inaccessible in Tajikistan since May 10 and 11.
Internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile operators reportedly received order on May 10 and 11 to block the access to the sites of
Asia-Plus
,
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
,
Ozodagon
and some other news websites.
Asia-Plus has applied to the communications service agency asking to clarify the reason for blocking the websites, but officials at the communications service agency said they have nothing to do with the Internet blockage.
Ms. Adolat Abdurahmonzoda, the deputy head of the State Communications Service said that their specialists would establish the cause of the blockage and inform mass media.
Meanwhile, some local experts said the outages may be linked to the upcoming constitutional referendum in Tajikistan.
We will recall that Tajikistan is set to hold a referendum on constitutional amendments on May 22 that would allow incumbent President Emomali Rahmon to run for office for an indefinite number of times.
As of May 11, the
Asia-Plus
website could only be accessed by using proxy servers.
