Punished For Their Opinions: New Report Highlights Persecution Of Bloggers In Uzbekistan

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) published Monday a new report entitled “Punished for their opinions – bloggers and social media commentators in Uzbekistan.” The report, based on ongoing monitoring by IPHR and AHRCA, highlights an intensified crackdown on critical bloggers and social media commentators in Uzbekistan since 2021. This development contradicts President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s political modernisation programme and the country’s international obligations concerning freedom of expression.

The 26-page report examines Uzbekistan’s criminal defamation laws and documents cases of bloggers and social media commentators facing prosecution, forced psychiatric confinement, and other pressures from security services due to legitimate free speech. It concludes with recommendations to the Uzbekistani authorities on how to improve the situation.

IPHR and AHRCA have closely monitored civil and political rights in Uzbekistan for many years. After a period of increased openness, the authorities have backslided with regard to freedom of expression in recent years, despite the fact that, as a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 1995, the government has undertaken to guarantee free speech.

When coming to power in December 2016, after 25 years of authoritarian rule under his predecessor Islam Karimov, President Mirziyoyev announced a transformation programme named “New Uzbekistan” which included stated commitments to a range of reforms and the rule of law. President Mirziyoyev repeatedly and publicly expressed his support for freedom of speech and encouraged more critical reporting.

For example, on 29 December 2020, the President told parliament: “Of course, many local officials don’t like challenging and critical materials, they disturb their calm and carefree existence. But transparency and freedom of speech – that is what is called for today, it’s what is needed for reform in Uzbekistan […] Fair criticism by objective journalists and bloggers points out the mistakes and shortcomings of old-fashioned leaders, forcing them to change their working style and increase their responsibility.”

Independent journalism, online commentary and debates began to flourish. Bloggers and social media users initiated discussions on a wide range of social, economic, and political topics including the authorities’ use of foreign loans; government corruption on the national and local level; temporary water, gas and electricity cuts; as well as the plight of victims of domestic violence. Many spoke out boldly, criticising senior government officials and demanding respect for the rule of law and human rights principles. These developments, alongside the release from prison of several human rights activists and journalists who had been sentenced to long prison terms on politically-motivated charges, raised hopes for reform and free speech and many experts in Uzbekistan and abroad regarded them as indicators of a political thaw.

As this period coincided with growing internet access across Uzbekistan, bloggers were able to grow extensive followings and communicate to large audiences. Many of the issues raised by influential bloggers and initially disseminated via social media and internet messengers, have subsequently been picked up and referred to by media outlets and government press services.

The President continues to speak out in favour of free speech. Most recently, on 26 June 2024, he congratulated press and media workers, saying that “[c]ritical and analytical materials, in particular, on shortcomings in the field of construction, ecology and environmental protection, road safety, as well as in the social and economic spheres help to ‘wake up’ some ‘dormant’ leaders and officials at the local level, make them work in a new way, live with the concerns of people[…]our caring and noble journalists, active bloggers with their firm positions and impartial words make a worthy contribution to solving acute life problems, increasing the effectiveness of reforms, expanding the views and worldview of compatriots”.

However, our ongoing monitoring of the human rights situation shows that the year 2020 saw significant growth in the number of cases of pressure, harassment and administrative detention of those who criticised the authorities and their relatives, and from 2021 onwards, law enforcement bodies, often with the involvement of local and neighbourhood committees, increasingly clamped down on critical bloggers and social media commentators. Demands to remove publications were frequent as well as internet trolling which often led to criminal prosecutions. Courts typically failed to protect bloggers’ rights to freedom of expression and opinion.

When it comes to the legislative framework, some laws adopted as part of the government’s reform programme improved the legal framework for freedom of expression and the rule of law, but other newly introduced legislation poses threats to freedom of expression and criminal punishment for defamation remains in place.

The authorities’ attention to bloggers and social media commentators appears to be linked to the increased importance and influence of social media, which offers the potential to reach and unite users across Uzbekistan around political and socio-economic concerns and grievances.