DUSHANBE, March 12, 2012, Asia-Plus – The Tajik authorities have restored access to Facebook following an outcry from international organisations over the recent blocking of independent media sites.

An official source at one of Internet service providing companies in Tajikistan ahs told Asia-Plus that they received verbal permit from the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan to restore access to the social-networking website Facebook Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, AFP reports that authorities in Tajikistan on Sunday allowed access to Facebook.  A spokesman for an Internet provider in the Tajik capital Dushanbe was quoted as saying, “Yes, we''ve allowed access to Facebook but we don''t know how long it will last.”  “If we again receive a signal to shut it down we will have to comply.”  According to AFP, nearly 30,000 people use Facebook in Tajikistan.

We will recall that Tajik users’ access to social-network website Facebook and the Russian-language sites centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, and zvezda.ru (Polyarnaya Zvezda) had been cut off since March 2 in response to an order from the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan.

Tajik authorities cited “technical problem” for the loss of access to the sites and pledged that the problem would be tackled within the next few days.  However, the Communications Service did not explain why it would need to shut down these particular websites.

Some media sources reported that the authorities issued the order the day after Polyarnaya Zvezda published an article entitled “Tajikistan on the Eve of Revolution,” which tjknews.com and centrasia.ru republished shortly after.  It is unclear if maxala.org was targeted for similar reasons.  The article covered a recent meeting in which Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon allegedly ordered security services to increase surveillance of local religious groups and members of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, news reports said.  According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the article also criticized Rahmon for growing authoritarianism, inattention to government corruption, and increasing poverty.

The move caused an outcry from a number of international organisations and local media organizations.

The Association of Internet Service Providers of Tajikistan denounced the move as a “direct threat” to Tajik national information security.  U.S.-based Freedom House has also condemned the Tajik government for regularly restricting access to websites critical of the government.