List of journalists killed in Tajikistan

This is a list of journalists who have been killed in Tajikistan or journalists from Tajikistan killed outside of the country since 1990. Listees include those known to have been murdered, as well as cases of suspicious deaths.

History

From 1990-2001 Tajikistan was one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Estimates for the number of journalists killed number from fifty to eighty.[1] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, journalism in Tajikistan underwent a transformation as the Soviet Union liberalized under glasnost and perestroika. Journalists in both private and state-run media were permitted greater editorial and investigative freedoms to report on issues and to challenge government propaganda. But journalists ran into danger when they publicly confronted powerful interests or reported on violent events. The first journalistic death in Tajikistan occurred on 12 February 1990 when a sniper in a government building opened fire on demonstrators in Dushanbe, killing a number of individuals, including a Lenfilm employee filming the events from his hotel. Following the events of February 1990, the government placed pressure on editors to fire dozens of journalists working for local television stations, radio stations and newspapers.[2]

Journalists continued to face official harassment through the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan in 1991.[3] In mid-1992 the Civil War in Tajikistan began, and journalists became targets for killings. During the war, forces of the opposition and the government both massacred civilians from certain regions because of their perceived political alignments. Thousands of Gharmis and Pamiris were selectively killed by pro-government forces for killings in the first year of the war.[1] In December 1992 alone, four journalists of Pamiri origin were killed.[4] There were also instances of journalists who were killed for their criticism of Islamic groups allied with the opposition. By 1995 at least 37 journalists had been killed in Tajikistan.[5]

By the late 1990s, the number of killings of journalists in Tajikistan began to fall. This was not due to greater press freedoms in the republic, but rather to the fact that a large number of journalists had fled the country and journalistic freedom of expression inside of Tajikistan had come to a halt. The non-governmental organization Freedom House rated press freedoms in Tajikistan as "Not Free" beginning in 1992.[6] Other NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Glasnost Defense Foundation, have issued reports condemning the lack of press freedoms in Tajikistan. By 2007 the murder of journalists had ceased, but that year Human Rights Watch criticized the government of Tajikistan for its move to “tighten control over independent media activities” and the fact that journalists critical of the government are “routinely threatened with prosecution.”[7] In nearly every case of the killing of a journalist in Tajikistan, no suspects have been arrested or brought to trial.

1990

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1998

1999

2000

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Tajikistan Freedom Of Expression Still Threatened. November 1999. Vol. 11, No. 14 (D)". Human Rights Watch. 1999. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  2. Conflict in the Soviet Union: Tadzhikistan. Human Rights Watch. 1991. pp. 41–42, 49.
  3. Conflict in the Soviet Union: Tadzhikistan. Human Rights Watch. 1991. p. 49.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 "Journalists Killed in 1992". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  5. "Tajik Democratic Party speaks against media warning". BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. Lexis-Nexis. 10 August 1995.
  6. Karatnycky, Adrian; Alexander J. Motyl and Boris Shor (1997). Nations in Transit 1997: Civil Society, Democracy and Markets in East Central Europe and the Newly Independent States. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 373. ISBN 0-7658-0411-5.
  7. "Tajikistan Events of 2007". Human Rights Watch. 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  8. Conflict in the Soviet Union: Tadzhikistan. Human Rights Watch. 1991. pp. 41–42.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "Journalists Killed in 1993". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  10. Denber, Rachel (1993). Human Rights in Tajikistan: In the Wake of Civil War. Human Rights Watch. p. 11.
  11. "Journalists Killed in 1994". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  12. "Холов Мухаммадшариф". Memorium. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  13. "Сайфиддинов Почохон". Memorium. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  14. "Наджибуллоев Мухаммадмуслих". Memorium. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  15. "Абдулов Олим". Memorium. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  16. "Мухиддинов Зайниддин". Memorium. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
  17. "Journalists Killed in 1996". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  18. "Journalists Killed in 1999". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1999. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  19. "Journalist Murdered In Moscow". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2000. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  20. "Khovar news agency journalist found murdered in Tajik capital". BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. Lexis-Nexis. 1 September 2000.