Press FreedomFOREIGN PRESS USA

Polish journalist banned from entering Uzbekistan after criticizing the government

Press FreedomFOREIGN PRESS USA
Polish journalist banned from entering Uzbekistan after criticizing the government

Uzbekistan refused entry to a Polish journalist who had accused an Uzbek official of harassment and written critically about the country.

After being held at the border with Kazakhstan for more than a day, the journalist was taken to Tashkent airport by state security, where she flew to Istanbul. The Uzbek authorities have not commented on the incident publicly. In addition to her work for Al-Jazeera, The Guardian, The Diplomat, and Eurasianet, Pikulicka-Wilczewska was one of the few foreign journalists in Uzbekistan.

VOA reports that Pikulicka-Wilczewska was denied press accreditation multiple times by the Foreign Ministry earlier this year. Additionally, she claimed that a ministry official sexually harassed her and pressured her into writing positive articles. The Foreign Ministry apologized and granted her media accreditation for three months. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported at the time that the official had been fired.

In June, the ministry said it would not extend the accreditation again due to violations of the law. The Interior Ministry accused the journalist of bias and noncompliance with the law after she reported an attack against blogger and gay rights activist Miraziz Bazarov.

The beating of Basarov in Tashkent, in March, led to his hospitalization with serious injuries. Pikulicka-Wilczewska interviewed him and criticized law enforcement later on social media. The Interior Ministry responded by accusing the journalist of spreading false news and violating the country's media laws. Pichulicka-Wilczewska denies any wrongdoing.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Uzbekistan 157th out of 180 countries, where 1 is the freest.