Tajikistan finds BBC reporter guilty of complicity

[News_Editor]

Tajikistan finds BBC reporter guilty of complicity

2011-10-15 07:04:02 GMT+7 (ICT)

DUSHANBE (BNO NEWS) -- Tajikistan authorities have found a BBC reporter guilty of complicity in the activities of the banned Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, the news organization reported on Friday.

Authorities accused Urunboy Usmonov of failing to provide details about Hizb ut-Tahrir members to police. He was sentenced to three years in jail, but the judge granted him an amnesty and ordered his immediate release.

The BBC report said he was first accused of being a member of the outlawed group, but this was later changed to a charge of "complicity" in Hizb ut-Tahrir's 'extremist activities'. The 60-year-old journalist said he met with Hizb ut-Tahrir members while working on an article about the group.

"During the court hearings they could not provide any evidence against me," he told the BBC's Uzbek Service. "I am innocent. I did my job. I am journalist and that is it. I am definitely going to appeal to a higher court."

Usmonov told the court that he had been subjected to beatings and security officers burning his arms with cigarettes. He also said he had been forced to sign a confession which had been dictated to him, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, his lawyer Fayzinisso Vokhidova said the reporter had been "convicted for his journalistic activity". He said the court saw Usmonov, who has worked as a reporter for the BBC for 10 years, as being guilty of "giving information to BBC radio for propaganda of Hizb ut-Tahrir activities".

In a statement, the BBC said that "no evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever emerged during the trial, and that only a complete exoneration of our correspondent is acceptable". Peter Horrocks, the BBC's director of Global News, said: "We hope that the appeal process will lead to his reputation as a highly respected writer and journalist being restored."

"We also intend to press for answers over the torture and mistreatment Urunboy suffered while in custody, and to raise real concerns about shortcomings in the legal process," he added.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization which has swept across Central Asia over the past decade, is openly critical of the Tajik regime. It does not advocate violence but it is looking to establish an Islamic state across the Middle East and Central Asia.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-15

[TAWP]

BBC is demanding that a journalist acting as a PR organ for a offensive Islamic organization (read: Sharia Law etc) be cleared of that charge, even though it lead to no jail time and amnesty was given by the court [to avoid any problems]. Alright...

[mpoppel]

BBC is demanding that a journalist acting as a PR organ for a offensive Islamic organization (read: Sharia Law etc) be cleared of that charge, even though it lead to no jail time and amnesty was given by the court [to avoid any problems]. Alright...

PR organ? How about he was just doing his work? He was working on an article about the group.