Kyrgyzstan: Defamation Campaign and Threats Against Human Rights Defender Ms Tolekan Ismailova

(SALEM) - A smear campaign and threats against Ms. Tolekan Ismailova; a human rights activist from Kyrgyzstan, are unacceptable behaviors of the Kyrgyz government.

She is charged with spreading propaganda for homosexuality in Kyrgyzstan and being destructive to Kyrgyz values through her connection to the film, I Am Gay and Muslim.

Along with other organisers of the human rights festival, Ms Tolekan Ismailova has been at the receiving end of government harassment that is totally unacceptable.

Our Human Rights Ambassador, William Nicholas Gomes, expresses serious concern for the physical and psychological integrity and security of these activists in his letter to H.E. Mr Almazbek Atambayev, President of Kyrgyzstan.

In fact Mr. Gomes emphasizes the extremely legitimate role played by human rights defenders and civil society organisations in the promotion of human rights for all.

He cites in particular the right to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and protection against homophobic hate speech and acts.

“

H.E. Mr Almazbek Atambayev
President
Government House
Dom Pravitelstva
720000 Bishkek
Kyrgyz Republic

Your Excellency,

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com.

I came to know about the situation from Front Line Defenders.

On 14 October 2012, TV channel LTR broadcast a program in which human rights defender Ms Tolekan Ismailova was depicted as spreading propaganda for homosexuality in Kyrgyzstan and being destructive to Kyrgyz values. Similar accusations were published in several Kyrgyz-language newspapers. Ms Tolekan Ismailova is the director of Human Rights Centre ‘Citizens Against Corruption’.

These accusations refer to the documentary ‘I Am Gay and Muslim’, which was part of the human rights film festival Bir Duyno – Kyrgyzstan (One World – Kyrgyzstan), organised annually in Bishkek with the active participation of HRC Citizens Against Corruption. The documentary was scheduled to be shown on 28 September 2012 at the Manas cinema in Bishkek. The film explores the problematic issue of gay rights in the Islamic world, taking the example of Moroccan young men who speak about their sexual and religious identity.

On 8 October 2012, the HRC Citizens Against Corruption received a letter from their hosting company warning the human rights organisation about the possibility that its website www.anticorruption.kg might be shut down if it contained references or links to the documentary ‘I Am Gay and Muslim’.

On 28 September 2012, the day of the screening, the festival organisers were ordered by the Pervomaysky district court of Bishkek to ban the film, following a complaint lodged by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, which demanded that the film ‘I Am Gay and Muslim’ be recognised as “extremist, inciting religious hatred and aimed at dishonouring Muslims”. As the decision of the court came into force immediately, the organisers of festival were deprived of a chance to contest the ruling before the scheduled screening time. The HRC Citizens Against Corruption has since filed an appeal to overturn the court’s decision.

The same day, at approximately 10.40am, a representative of the State Committee of National Security came to the office of the HRC to serve an official warning to Tolekan Ismailova as the festival director. The warning stipulated that “according to the decision by the State Commission of Religious Affairs, based on point 6.1 of Article 1 of the ‘Law on Combating Extremist Activity’, the film is considered ‘extremist’ and its diffusion and broadcasting within the territory of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan might encourage religious hatred and set the scene for mass disorder”. As a result of this, the film screening did not take place.

On 26 September 2012, the organisers of the festival had received phone calls and text messages threatening them with physical harm while the director of the cinema was threatened that the building would be set on fire unless the film’s screening was cancelled.

I condemn the smear campaign and threats against Ms Tolekan Ismailova and the other organisers of the human rights festival, and am concerned for their physical and psychological integrity and security. I wish to emphasise the legitimate role played by human rights defenders and civil society organisations in the promotion of human rights for all, in particular the right to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and protection against homophobic hate speech and acts.

I urge the authorities in Kyrgyzstan to:

1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the threats received by human rights defender Tolekan Ismailova, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;

2. Take measures to ensure that government officials or other public figures refrain from making statements or declarations stigmatising the legitimate work of human rights defenders;

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

Yours Sincerely,
William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com
www.williamnicholasgomes.com

”

Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist and author was born on 25 December, 1985 in Dhaka. As an investigative journalist he wrote widely for leading European and Asian media outlets.

He is also active in advocating for free and independent media and journalists’ rights, and is part of the free media movement, Global Independent Media Center – an activist media network for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate telling of the truth. He worked for Italian news agency Asianews.it from year 2009 to 2011, on that time he was accredited as a free lance journalist by the press information department of Bangladesh. During this time he has reported a notable numbers of reports for the news agency which were translated into Chinese and Italian and quoted by notable number of new outlets all over the world.He, ideologically, identifies himself deeply attached with anarchism. His political views are often characterized as “leftist” or “left-wing,” and he has described himself as an individualist anarchist.