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)
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