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Alert

Journalist Ruslan Sharipov granted asylum in the United States

(WAN/IFEX) - The following is a 25 September 2004 WAN press release:

Paris, 25 September 2004

Golden Pen Laureate Receives Asylum in United States

Ruslan Sharipov, the 2004 laureate of the Golden Pen of Freedom press freedom prize, has been granted asylum in the United States after fleeing Uzbekistan in the face of serious threats to his safety.

Mr Sharipov, who had served 10 months in prison and was continuing his sentence under house arrest, fled Uzbekistan in June and was living in Moscow until his asylum was approved last week. He arrived in the United States on Thursday and will stay with relatives in Sacramento, California.

"We are relieved that Mr Sharipov is beyond the reach of Uzbek authorities, and we hope that he can one day return to a free and democratic Uzbekistan," said Kajsa Törnroth, Director of Press Freedom Programmes for the World Association of Newspapers.

The Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of WAN, was presented to Mr Sharipov in June for his courageous human rights and freedom of expression initiatives in the face of attacks, torture and constant harassment.

Mr Sharipov, 25, was sentenced to four years in prison in August 2003 for "engaging in homosexual acts" -- a pretext to silence him and stop his human rights work.

He was held in a high security prison from his arrest in May 2003 until March, when he was transferred to house arrest.

Mr Sharipov is the founder of the Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan and a correspondent for the Moscow Human Rights Agency. Before his imprisonment, he reported regularly on the state of the media and press freedom in Uzbekistan, and about human rights violations in the central Asian nation.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.