Critical websites that have been blocked in Uzbekistan for years reportedly became accessible within the country in recent weeks. But sources tell EurasiaNet.org they are blocked again.
On October 27, Moscow-based Fergana News reported that from October 17 users in Namangan, Tashkent and Fergana could "freely access" Fergananews.com and other sites that frequently carry material critical of the Uzbek government and President Islam Karimov.
Sources in Tashkent told EurasiaNet.org on October 28, however, that the sites, including EurasiaNet.org, are again blocked. (They can be accessed using proxy servers.) Uzmetronom also reports that the sites are again inaccessible from within Uzbekistan.
State media regularly warns about the supposedly harmful effects foreign media, culture, and social-networking websites have on young people, especially since the Arab Spring saw similar dictatorships toppled in the Middle East. Reporters Without Borders consistently ranks Uzbekistan an "Enemy of the Internet."
The brief unblocking came as the business and charity interests of Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, have reportedly come under attack inside the country. Some believed the unblocking was designed to allow critical news about Karimova to filter into the country and further blacken her image.
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