Paris, August 30, 2022 — On Tuesday morning, Uzbek immigration authorities denied entry to CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said, stating that the immigration system showed that she was not allowed to enter the country.
Said, a U.S. citizen, is currently in the Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport, where authorities said she must remain until she takes a flight to New York scheduled for September 1, Said told CPJ.
Said was making a family visit to Uzbekistan after traveling to Georgia and Latvia on a CPJ mission.
“Uzbekistan authorities should allow Gulnoza Said entry to the country so she can collect her son and return from their family’s holiday in peace,” said CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg, in New York. “Said was not working in Uzbekistan, and we consider her denial to enter the country to be a form of harassment intended to intimidate her for her work outside of the country reporting and supporting journalists.”
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.