In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, the Committee to Protect Jouralists (CPJ), one of the biggest media watch groups, found that today online journalism results in more imprisonments of journalists than print or broadcast media. According to their census, 45% of 125 imprisoned journalists in 2008 (data as of Dec. 5, 2008) were jailed due to their work online. They are mainly journalists and editors for online news agencies, and bloggers. The imprisonments of journalists due to their profession happened in 29 countries in 2008, according to the CPJ’s census. Uzbekistan is the only Central Asian country in the list and rounds out the top five “the world’s worst journalist jailer” countries along with China, Cuba, Burma and Eritrea.

CPJ’s survey found 125 journalists in all behind bars on December 1… China continued to be world’s worst jailer of journalists, a dishonor it has held for 10 consecutive years. Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan round out the top five jailers from among the 29 nations that imprison journalists. Each of the top five nations has persistently placed among the world’s worst in detaining journalists.

According to CPJ, there were 6 journalists in jail in Uzbekistan in 2008. They are:

-Muhammad Bekjanov, editor of banned opposition newspaper Erk, imprisoned in March 1999 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Charged and convicted of publishing and distributing the banned Erk, which criticized President Islam Karimov; participating in a banned political protest; and attempting to overthrow the constitutional regime of Uzbekistan;

-Yusuf Ruzimuradov editor of banned opposition newspaper Erk, imprisoned in March 1999 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Charged and convicted of publishing and distributing the banned Erk, which criticized President Islam Karimov; participating in a banned political protest; and attempting to overthrow the constitutional regime of Uzbekistan;

-Gayrat Mehliboyev, freelance, imprisoned in July 2002 and sentences to 6.5 years in prison. Convicted of anti-constitutional activities, participating in extremist religious organizations, and inciting religious hatred, according to local and international news reports;

-Ortikali Namazov, editor of the state newspaper Pop Tongi and correspondent for the state newspaper Kishlok Khayoti, imprisoned in August 2004 and sentences to 5.5 years in prison. Charged with embezzlement of funds;

-Dzhamshid Karimov, freelance, President Islam Karimov’s nephew (!), being forcibly held in psychiatric hospital since September 2006. According to CPJ, “Government officials refused to release any information on the court proceedings that led to his involuntary confinement, and independent experts were not allowed to examine Karimov”;

-Salidzhon Abdurakhmanov, correspondent of internet based News Agency Uznews, imprisoned in October 2008 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to CPJ, Abrurakhmanov was arrested “after traffic police claimed they found 4 ounces (114 grams) of marijuana and less than a quarter-ounce (about 5 grams) of opium in his trunk. Authorities charged the journalist with drug possession intended for personal use.”

Out of these six imprisoned journalists two were involved in online journalism. However, if those Uzbek journalists, human rights activists, and opposition members, who have found asylums abroad, who are now mainly involved in online activism — online journalism and blogging (citizen journalism) — if they were in Uzbekistan, the number of jailed journalists would be way more than 6.[inspic=138,left,fullscreen,250] The reason for online journalism being more risky is due to its advantages over print and broadcast media. It is mainly due to the accessibility and flexibility of online journalism. Due to these features, recently, online/citizen journalism has been spreading very widely throughout the world that resulted in its increasing popularity. In its turn, this made online journalists and bloggers number-one-targets to repressive governments and regimes, as unlike print and broadcast media that are mostly bound to certain regional and time limitations, internet can be accessible almost everywhere. Moreover, online/citizen journalism does not require much assets. All you need is an electronic device, internet, material you want to publish, and a great courage and will to make good changes in the world. CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon aslo believes that advantages of online journalism has attracted attention of enemies of press freedom. He says,

Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other. But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack. The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse.

So far, no one was arrested in Uzbekistan for blogging. However, there had been rumors that a blogger was expelled from university for unknown reasons, most like for being a blogger. The Uzbek government’s efforts to ban almost all URLs containing “unfriendly information”, including blogs, significantly slow down the process of blogs becoming an alternative source of information. Nevertheless, there are courageous bloggers, who blog from Uzbekistan. They do not fear of persecution and cover the aspects of life in Uzbekistan that are neglected by mainstream media of Uzbekistan.