Sat Jan 18 05:47:29 UTC 2025: ## Central Asian Crackdown on Journalists and Activists Condemned
**Almaty, Kazakhstan –** Human Rights Watch (HRW) has sharply criticized the deteriorating human rights situation in Central Asia, highlighting a significant increase in the repression of journalists and activists throughout 2024. In a comprehensive 500-page report released this week, HRW documented the imprisonment of dissenters and escalating control over the media across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The report specifically cites the arrest of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor, in Russia in October 2023, as an example of the increasing risks faced by journalists in the region. Kurmasheva’s detention marks the second instance of a U.S. journalist being held in Russia this year.
HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director, Hugh Williamson, stated that authorities throughout Central Asia intensified intimidation, harassment, and prosecution of critics in 2024. The organization called for the immediate release of all wrongfully imprisoned activists and journalists. All five Central Asian nations consistently rank poorly in press freedom indices. Turkmenistan, in particular, remains one of the world’s most closed and repressive countries. The report underscores the urgent need for international attention to the plight of those silenced in Central Asia.
First Piper 