Journalist arrested on trumped-up drug charge in western region
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 11 June 2008 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Journalist arrested on trumped-up drug charge in western region, 11 June 2008, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4852277110.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Reporters Without Borders has just learned that journalist and human rights activist Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov is being held in the western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan on a drug possession charge which fellow journalists believe was trumped up.
A criminal court in the regional capital of Nukus ordered him placed in pre-trial detention today but the exact date of his arrest is not yet known. According to an unconfirmed report, he was arrested on 7 June, two days before the start of a government-run seminar in Tashkent on press freedom.
"We condemn Abdurakhmanov's arrest just as the authorities were organising a conference on media freedom in Tashkent," Reporters Without Borders said. "It is proof of the cynicism of a government that continues to jail journalists and human rights activists. As in previous cases, the drug charge seems to be just a pretext for portraying a prisoner of conscience as an ordinary detainee."
The regional director of the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in Karakalpakstan, Abdurakhmanov is also a reporter for independent news websites. His colleagues suspect that the drug possession charge was fabricated and the real reason for his arrest was his journalistic activities.
