Tajikistan orders Twitter ban
2012-12-22 16:24
Dushanbe - Tajikistan has ordered local internet providers
to block Twitter, one of more than 100 sites including popular Russian-language
social networks starting next week, an industry representative told AFP on Saturday.
"The [government] communications service has sent internet
companies a huge list of 131 sites that must be blocked in the country from
Monday," said Asomiddin Atoyev, the head of the Tajik association of internet
providers.
"The list includes social networking sites that are
actively used by Tajik internet users including government officials,"
Atoyev said.
Among the blocked sites are Vkontakte, or In Touch, and
Odnoklassniki, or Classmates, the most popular social networking sites in
Russia with many users in the ex-Soviet Union, and Mail.ru, an e-mail service.
"We don't understand the criteria for drawing up the
list and what they are pursuing. The communications service does not give
reasons in its letter for blocking the sites," Atoyev said.
No official at the communications service was available for
comment on Saturday.
Facebook ban lifted
The Central Asian country bordering Afghanistan lifted only
this month a ban on Facebook, which was blocked from late November for almost
two weeks on the order of the same state-run communications service.
The service said it blocked Facebook because of a
"deluge of lies" and "insults to the head of state and
government members".
But after urging from the United States, the authorities
unblocked Facebook in December, saying they had been carrying out
"preventative technical" work.
Several news sites, including regional portals Fergana.ru
and Centrasia.ru and Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, have been
blocked in Tajikistan for months.
Local media in Tajikistan avoids criticising President
Emomali Rahmon, who has led the country since 1992, fearing government checks
and closure of their publications.
Elections
Tajikistan, the poorest ex-Soviet country, has a population
of around eight million people, of whom around one million work in Russia,
often as labourers. The money they send back home accounts for 40% of the
country's GDP.
The country will hold presidential elections next year and
many fear the authorities will tighten control on the internet.
"The next presidential elections will be held in
Tajikistan in November 2013, and this will bring even more harsh control of internet
resources and independent media," predicted the head of the National
Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan, Nuriddin Karshiboyev.
