Criticized Over Blogger Arrests, Uzbekistan Denies It's a Free Speech Issue

Uzbek blogger Olimjon Haydarov, right, puts his arm around his mother after the verdict in a Ferghana criminal court, Uzbekistan, Dec. 1, 2023. The trial of blogger Olimjon Haydarov was open to the public, but the judge excluded cameras from the courtroom, ostensibly at the plaintiff’s request. (Uzbek Supreme Court) Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev says he values the country's mass media, bloggers being a prominent part of it. (president.uz) Asadjon Khodjaev, right, head of Uzbekistan's Agency on Information and Mass Communications, and his deputy Dilshod Saidjonov, left, speak with journalists and bloggers at the agency's headquarters, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 7, 2023. (AIMC)

In 2017, when Uzbekistan's newly installed President Shavkat Mirziyoyev promised systemic reforms, his dialogue with citizens helped usher into prominence a new segment of the country’s internet-savvy youth: bloggers.