DUSHANBE, December 4 (RIA Novosti) – Tajikistan’s state Internet provider, Tajiktelekom, has unblocked access to Facebook a week after the state telecoms agency ordered access to the social networking site be blocked over ‘slander.’
“Tajiktelekom has unblocked the access to Facebook,” the chairman of the Association of Tajikistan's Internet Providers, Asomuddin Atoyev said, adding that other Internet providers and mobile operators might also receive the permission to unblock the site soon.
On November 26, the Central Asian republic’s state telecoms agency ordered all Tajik Internet providers and mobile operators to block access to Facebook, which has more than 41,000 users in the country.
The agency’s chief, Beg Zukhurov, said that users were spreading "mud and slander" about top government officials, including President Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992 and is set to run for a new term next year.
“These people are obviously paid well for this,” Zukhurov said, adding that he had received numerous requests from “indignant Tajik citizens asking that this hotbed of slander be blocked.”
Zukhurov later said that access to Facebook will be unblocked after “technical issues” have been solved.
Last week, the agency blocked access to Radio Ozodi, the US-funded Tajik service of Radio Liberty, and other Internet news sites in response to growing criticism of the Central Asian country’s leadership.
The US Embassy issued a statement urging the Tajik government to “respect individual rights to freedom of expression and lift its restriction on the banned sites.”
The Radio Ozodi website was available again on Monday.
This is the second time that the authorities in Tajikistan have blocked Facebook. Access to the social network was blocked for several days in early March, but later restored.
In August, the country established a special volunteer group to monitor Tajikistan-related publications online.
