OSCE Calls Tajiks To Reverse Ban On Facebook, News Sites

Youths at an Internet cafe in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe

The Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called on Tajikistan to reverse instructions to block social-networking website Facebook and four independent news websites.

Access to the world's most popular social networking site and Russian-language sites centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, zvezda.ru, and maxala.org has been cut off since March 3, apparently in response to an order from the state communications agency.

The OSCE described the move as a "worrying development."

Tajik officials have cited "technical reasons" for the problem and pledged that it would be corrected "soon."