DUSHANBE, July 30, 2012, Asia-Plus – Internet access to leading international news sources – the BBC and Russian Service and Russian TV Channel Vesti – has been cut off in Tajikistan.
Some of Tajik Internet providers have also blocked Lenta.ru, Ferghananews.com, and Pamir-vesti.ru. Tajik news agency Ozodagon is reportedly also on the so-called black list of Tajik communications service agency.
Local Internet-providing companies say they have blocked the websites following verbal instructions received from the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan on July 28 and 29.
As far as the website of the British Broadcast Corporation is concerned, some Intern-providers have cut off Internet access to BBC’s Russian Service or BBC’s Tajik Service.
Experts attribute the move to a controversial armed conflict in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.
We will recall that the communications service agency on July 26 ordered Internet providers to block access to YouTube. On Friday July 27, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, called on the government of Tajikistan to unblock video sharing website YouTube and ensure the free flow and access to information, press release issued by OSCE said.
“YouTube has become one of the most important sources of diverse information all over the world. With full understanding for the security concerns of the authorities, free access to information and the free flow of information is vital at all times and should not be restricted or suppressed,” Mijatovic said.
“Only courts should be allowed to decide whether websites can be blocked, not authorities. Blocking is a restriction on free media and, most importantly, deprives citizens of their right to know, to receive and impart information about the developments in their own country.”
She added: “Authorities have the obligation to ensure the free flow of information and unhindered functioning of the media. I also believe media should uphold the highest professional standards when carrying out their duties. In this regard I welcome the recent call on the media by several leading Tajik non-governmental organizations to cover events in the country in an objective and unbiased manner.”
Mijatovic said she was pleased to learn that the authorities have unblocked Asia-Plus, Tajikistan’s main independent news agency after blocking the site on July 23.
