26 July 2006
TAKE ACTION! TURKMENISTAN: SIGN PROTEST LETTER TO HELP FREE JOURNALISTS, ACTIVISTS
26 July 2006
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) has launched an online letter writing campaign calling for the release of detained journalists Ogulsapar Muradova and Annakurban Amanklychev, and human rights activist Sapardurdy Khajiev.
Amanklychev was detained on 16 June 2006, while Muradova and Khajiyev were detained on 18 June. All three are associated with the Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation (THF), a non-governmental organisation based in Bulgaria that monitors and reports on human rights conditions in Turkmenistan. Muradova is also a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The state-run newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan" accused the detainees of passing "slanderous information" to the THF, "with the aim of sowing discontent among the population."
There are credible allegations that the detainees have been ill-treated in custody and that psychotropic drugs have been administered to Amanklychev and Muradova to force them to "confess" to "subversive activities."
Turkmenistan, ruled by President Saparmurat Niazov, is one of the most repressive and closed countries in the world, says Human Rights Watch. The government tolerates no dissent, bans independent media, and has driven into exile or imprisoned political opposition leaders, human rights defenders and independent journalists.
To sign a protest letter, visit: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18343
For more information on the cases, see:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18308
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/20/turkme13588.htm
RSS