Tajikistan blocks access to Web sites ahead of polls

DUSHANBE, Oct 7 (Reuters) Tajikistan today blocked access to a number of Websites it said were harmful to state security, just a month before a presidential election which Tajik leader Imomali Rakhmonov is expected to win.

Tajikistan's information regulation agency sent a letter to the Central Asian state's Internet providers demanding they make it impossible for Tajiks to read Web sites it said sought to stoke ethnic and religious unrest.

''You must search through and close Websites on the Internet that aim to undermine the state's policies in the sphere of information,'' reads the letter, obtained by Reuters.

Rights groups have accused Rakhmonov of stifling media freedom ahead of the November 6 election.

Tajikistan has never held an election judged free and fair by Western monitors. Rakhmonov, in power since 1992, is widely expected the win the poll which is being boycotted by the country's fragile opposition.

The letter did not specify which Web sites it wanted to block, and it was unclear how many outlets were affected.

A Reuters correspondent in the Tajik capital Dushanbe could not open sites such as ferghana.ru and centralasia.ru that have been critical of Rakhmonov and his policies. An official at one provider, Eastera, confirmed the existence of the letter.

About 3 per cent of Tajikistan's population of seven million have access to the Internet. There are no opposition print media in Tajikistan, and most liberal reporters operate in the Internet.

REUTERS DKB KN2140