Blog

10.24.2007

Kazakhstan Blocks Critical Websites, As Opposition Cries Censorship

Kazakhstan has blocked four opposition news websites. Media freedom advocates call it "political censorship" and claim to be illegal. Whereas, Kazakh authorities state that the causes are: improper registration for one website whose server is located in France and the possible risk of contagion by a computer viral attack from its U.S.-based host. The article does not name the websites that were blocked. But it cites the website operators, who link the closures of their websites to their publications that accuse Kazakh officials in wrongdoing. This in turn might damage Kazakhstan's image ahead of its bid next month to chair the OSCE, which will be decided at the end of November. The article also makes a connection to the government censorship of the opposition voice. As all the blocked sites have posted comments about the government attack on the former Kazakh top official, Rakhat Aliev, who publicly denounced the new constitutional amendment regarding presidential post and accusing President Nazarbaev with election irregularities in 2005. He is now sought by Kazakh police. Source: RFE/RL 10/24/2007. Link to article: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/10/AA1D31AC-FA27-4E4E-AC55-E79063B9872A.html

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home