Rights Group Says Uzbek State Journalists Sacked

Uzbek President Islam Karimov's government has stepped up its repression of journalists since Andijon (file photo) (AFP) August 1, 2006 -- The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media watchdog today reported that several journalists with Uzbekistan's "Pravda Vostoka" official newspaper have been fired for working with nongovernmental media outlets.

RSF says in a statement that the newspaper's editor in chief, Alisher Uslanov, was summoned to the presidential administration last month and asked to dismiss a number of "politically unreliable" reporters, including two women (Jamilya Aipova and Olga Fazylova) who had reportedly contributed articles to the tribune-uz.info information website.

The Russian-language "Pravda Vostoka" is one of Uzbekistan's two official newspapers.

Tribune.uz.info announced its closure on July 4, suggesting the decision was made under government pressure.

(www.rsf.org, www.tribune-uz.info)