Harsh sentence of Uzbek journalist violates commitments, says OSCE media freedom representative

VIENNA, 2 May 2007 - Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media condemned today the 7-year prison sentence handed down to Umida Niyazova, an Uzbek investigative journalist collecting materials about the Andijan tragedy in 2005, as cruel and violating OSCE commitments.

"It is especially unfortunate that a journalist was punished for just doing her job on the eve of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day," said Haraszti.

On 1 May, the Sergeli District Court in Tashkent sentenced Umida Niyazova to seven years in prison for "illegal border crossing, carrying contraband, and fostering unrest by spreading material threatening to society" (articles 223, 246 and 244 of the Uzbek criminal code).

Niyazova was on a trip collecting materials about the violence that erupted in the Uzbek city of Andijan, when the police clashed with demonstrators, leaving 180 dead according to official sources and hundreds according to non-governmental observers. She was arrested when entering Uzbekistan from Kyrgyzstan.

"Niyazova is a young mother of a two-year old son, and this makes the sentence especially cruel for someone who did nothing but exercised her right to inform society," Haraszti said. "All the OSCE participating States have committed themselves to grant and to sustain that right. It is not journalists who should be restricted if the news is bad," said the Representative.

"I hope the case can be dismissed in appeal, and freedom of reporting even on controversial issues restored," Haraszti added.