Dushanbe-based media group Asia Plus reported via a mirror site on September 2 that its main websites and business emails stopped working completely on August 19. Prior to the outage, Asia Plus was already blocked in Tajikistan, according to the regional news website Eurasianet, though still accessible overseas and via virtual private network (VPN). CPJ visits to both websites from Washington, D.C., today produced error messages.
The Asia Plus and Radio Ozodi reports said the domain name records for two websites, news.tj and asiaplus.tj, had been deliberately misconfigured to disrupt access. While this could potentially result from an error or cyberattack, the national domain registry has yet to investigate complaints from Asia Plus and Eastera, the private hosting provider that manages the domains, according to Radio Ozodi. The .tj domain is administered by the Information Technology Center under the president"s administration, according to the registry"s website.
"The apparently targeted disruption of Asia Plus news agency"s website and the failure to restore service is cause for concern given Tajikistan"s poor press freedom record," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. "The Tajik authorities should investigate the problem and help ensure the website is accessible, so the public can get much needed news and information."
CPJ did not receive a response to its emailed request for comment from the Information Technology Center. The government communications service denied responsibility for the incident, Radio Ozodi reported. A spokesperson for ICANN, the global body that governs the internet"s domain name system, declined to comment because it does not have authority to adjudicate issues involving national registries.
Asia Plus, which the regional Ferghana news agency has described as one of Tajikistan"s largest independent news agencies, covers political, social, and economic issues. Eurasianet reported in November 2018 that Asia Plus had joined Tajikistan"s growing list of blocked news websites after it published an article on tax exemptions for construction companies linked to the president and his family. The agency continues to publish via a mirror site, Facebook page, and Telegram channel.
Websites and social media are frequently subject to censorship in Tajikistan, regional news reports indicate. News is routinely censored and journalists face persecution for their critical reporting, CPJ reporting shows.
In World
-
Russia has supplied air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops to support Russia's war efforts against Ukraine, a top South Korean official said Friday.
-
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will visit Taipei's three remaining diplomatic allies in the Pacific on a trip starting at the end of the month, his office said on Friday, but the government declined to give details on U.S. transit stops.
-
Russia is ready to consider any "realistic" peace initiative on the conflict in Ukraine which takes into account Russia's own interests and the situation on the ground, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
-
China is willing to conduct active dialogue with the United States based on the principles of mutual respect and promote the development of bilateral economic and trade relations, vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen said on Friday.
Leave a review