DUSHANBE, August 3, 2012, Asia-Plus — The communications service agency is in no hurry to fulfill an order of the Supreme Court to block website of a terrorist organization.
An official site of Jamaat Ansarullah, Islamist group banned in Tajikistan as terrorist – www.irshod.com — is still available to visitors in Tajikistan. This website should have been blocked three months ago following ruling handed down by the Supreme Court.
Tohir Qodirov, a judge at the Supreme Court, noted on May 3 that the Supreme Court banned Jamaat Ansarullah banned as extremist and terrorist on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office. The judge noted the ban was put on activity of Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan for the purpose of protecting the constitutional order, rights and freedoms of citizens and providing security of the country.
The Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan was ordered to block the websites www.irshod.com and www.irshod.net which are considered to be mouthpiece for Jamaat Ansarullah. However, the website www.irshod.com still remains available to visitors in Tajikistan.
Moreover, some Internet providers in Tajikistan say they have not received instructions from the communications service agency to block the site. “We do not block websites without instruction of the Communications Service,” one of Internet providers said.
Jamaat Ansarullah became known in Tajikistan after the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the northern Tajik city of Khujand at the start of September 2010. International media sources reported Ron September 9, 2010 that unknown Islamist militant group that called itself Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing in Khujand, the capital of Sughd province. Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan, in a statement on the unofficial Islamist website www.kavkazcenter.com, said a single suicide bomber drove a car into the police station in Khujand on September 3 and blew himself up.
Meanwhile, independent online media outlets have been blocked in Tajikistan on the basis of order by the Communications Service head Beg Zuhurov. The website of Russia”s RIA Novosti news agency and that of Tajikistan”s Asia-Plus news agency have remained blocked since August 1.
Earlier Tajik officials blocked the Russian news portals vesti.ru, ferghana.ru., lenta.ru, and centrasia.ru, as well as the BBC”s website in Russian. BBC’s website was unblocked on July 31.
