CPJ Says Uzbekistan Harassing Former RFE/RL Reporter
August 03, 2006
August 3, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is calling on Uzbek authorities to stop harrassing Nosir Zokirov, a former RFE/RL correspondent who served six months in jail last year on what the media watchdog calls "specious charges."
In a statement, the CPJ says Uzbek security officers last month raided Zokirov's home in the eastern city of Namangan and confiscated his belongings, allegedly because his son had failed to pay a fine in a separate case.
The CPJ calls on Uzbek authorities to immediately return the seized property to Zokirov.
An Uzbek court last year convicted Zokirov on charges of insulting a security officer.
While he was in prison, his son Zahrid was detained and fined $770 for allegedly trying to cross the border into Kyrgyzstan.
In December 2005, the Uzbek government refused to prolong the accreditation under which RFE/RL had been operating an office in Tashkent since 1996.
(www.cpj.org)