Turkmenistan / Europe & Central Asia

  

Turkmenistan releases journalist imprisoned for 4 years for COVID photo

Stockholm, June 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by the Saturday release of Nurgeldi Halykov, a freelance correspondent for independent Netherlands-based news website Turkmen.news, after he completed a four-year prison sentence on trumped-up fraud charges. “We are relieved that Nurgeldi Halykov is free after enduring a shockingly unjust prison term in one of…

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‘Network abuse’: Attacks on 3 media sites involved services of US, UK firms

Cyberattackers used services of technology companies based in the U.S. and U.K. to target media sites from Somalia, Kosovo, and Turkmenistan, Qurium, a nonprofit hosting the sites, said Tuesday. Earlier this month, CPJ reported on how cyberattackers used a Nebraska company, RayoByte, in attempts to knock those same media sites offline, as well as at…

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Cyberattackers used US company RayoByte in efforts to crash media sites

The cyberattack against the Somali Journalists Syndicate could not have come at a worse time. A distributed denial-of-service attack, known by its acronym DDoS, flooded the local press freedom group’s website with traffic in early August and knocked it offline. Days later, authorities arrested SJS staff member and Kaab TV editor Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul…

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CPJ calls on President Berdimuhamedov to lift restrictions on Turkmenistan’s press, release journalist Nurgeldi Halykov

CPJ calls on Turkmenistan’s president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, to lift restrictions on the press and release imprisoned journalist Nurgeldi Halykov.

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Turkmenistan journalist Nurgeldi Halykov facing retaliation in prison following coverage of his case

New York, May 12, 2022 – Turkmen authorities should cease retaliating against imprisoned journalist Nurgeldi Halykov, and should release him immediately and unconditionally, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Authorities first arrested Halykov in July 2020 and sentenced him to four years in prison that September. During his imprisonment, authorities have placed Halykov, a…

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Turkmen security officials threaten, harass families of two exiled journalists

Stockholm, May 26, 2021 – Turkmen authorities must immediately end the practice of harassing exiled journalists’ family members and allow all Turkmen journalists based abroad to return to the country and report in safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On a number of occasions between March and May this year, officers of the…

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Journalist Nurgeldi Halykov jailed in Turkmenistan since September 2020 on fraud charges

Stockholm, May 21, 2021 – Turkmen authorities should immediately release journalist Nurgeldi Halykov from prison and allow him and all other journalists to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 15, 2020, the Bagtyýarlyk District Court in Ashgabat, the capital, sentenced Halykov, a freelance correspondent working for the independent Netherlands-based news…

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Ashgabat-based Turkmen photojournalist Soltan Achilova. (Photo: Soltan Achilova)

Journalist Soltan Achilova on covering COVID-19 in Turkmenistan, one of the few countries with 0 confirmed cases

Soltan Achilova is a freelance photojournalist based in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, who covers social issues for independent foreign-based media outlets including Khronika Turkmenistana.

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10 Most Censored Countries

Repressive governments use sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Published September 10, 2019 Eritrea is the world’s most censored country, according to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The list is based on CPJ’s research into the…

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Soltan Achilova, as seen in November 2017 in her house in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The journalist was recently barred from leaving Turkmenistan. (Photo: CPJ via Khronika Turkmenistana)

Turkmenistan journalist Soltan Achilova barred from traveling abroad

New York, March 25, 2019 — Turkmenistan authorities should allow freelance reporter Soltan Achilova to freely travel outside the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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