“A Well-Orchestrated Lie”: Jailed Filipino Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio Speaks from Prison
June 27, 2025
SANEF Condemns Kenyan Government’s Crackdown on Media Freedom
June 27, 2025
June 27, 2025 – Kyrgyzstan –
Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed two sweeping laws that dramatically weaken protections against torture and severely restrict independent media, prompting urgent warnings from rights groups and international bodies.
The first law dissolves the National Center for the Prevention of Torture, established in 2012 as an independent oversight body under Kyrgyzstan’s obligations under the UN Anti-Torture Convention. It merges this role into the Ombudsman’s office, undermining its autonomy and diminishing its preventative authority. Human Rights Watch (HRW) emphasized that UN experts had previously praised the Center as “a model for Central Asia” and warned that this merger greatly reduces its ability to investigate and prevent abuse in prisons and detention facilities.
The second law reinstates and expands burdensome media registration rules, compelling all news websites and blogs (including NGO and professional sites) to seek government approval. The law grants the authorities sweeping powers to deny registration, shut down outlets, or revoke licenses without judicial oversight, effectively silencing dissident voices. It reverses twelve years of consensus-based drafting by media stakeholders and legal experts, leaving no space for compromise.
These laws were rushed through parliament in just one day, bypassing proper debate or civil society input and sidestepping procedural norms. HRW’s Syinat Sultanalieva urged President Sadyr Japarov—a once-populist whose administration has steadily consolidated power—to veto the bills, citing Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights commitments and warning of severe risks to democracy.
These developments coincide with a broader decline in press freedoms: earlier this year, investigative outlets such as Kloop and Temirov Live saw staff arrested, and courts moved to liquidate them. Kyrgyzstan has dropped precipitously in global free speech indices, with RSF now ranking it far lower than its regional peers.
Reference –
https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyz-parliament-votes-to-close-agency-that-monitored-prisons-police
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/27/kyrgyzstan-parliament-weakens-torture-protection-media-freedom
