Ogulsapar Muradova Died Violently Last Week. She Was a Journalist.

Michael Hedges September 18, 2006

Just less than 90 days after being arrested by Turkmen authorities, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) free-lance reporter died in prison. She had been convicted at a trial lasting 10 minutes and sentenced to serve six years, effectively a life-time. She was 58 years old.

When Muradova was arrested June 18 with two human rights activists there was concern over her future and theirs. Two days before two others associated with the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Bulgaria, were taken into custody. The Turkmen government linked the arrests to acts of subversion. The charges were illegal possession of weapons.

Central Asian States have a reputation. There’s always a chill, sometimes brutal, often incomprehensible. Several are wealthy now, unlike the days of the Soviet Union when, if there was any money, it was dark and flowed to Moscow. Oil, gas, pipelines, guns and drugs prop up perpetual regimes that seem utterly mad to the West.

Turkmenistan has been called the worst of the lot. It is in all respects the personal fiefdom of President Saparmurat Niazov. Human rights organizations rank Turkmenistan just above North Korea at the bottom of the list. Paranoia is a common attribute of all dictators.

Turkmen National Security Minister Ashirmukhammedov described the arrests as foiling a plot, according to a RFE/RL report in June following the arrests. Two of the arrested rights activists has earlier visited Ukraine. Ashirmukhammedov said they were learning “methods used during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.” Equipment recently confiscated from a French television crew was also show as evidence of international conspiracy.

RFE/RL, funded by the US Congress, associates freely with human rights organizations in its targeted countries. Its journalists often have strong links to these NGOs and are regularly arrested, it seems, and harassed.  Access by Western media is always limited.

Ogulsapar Muradova died violently last week. Descriptions of her condition were particularly chilling: head trauma apparently caused by an axe, strangulation. This week the United National Human Rights Council meets to discuss Turkmenistan.

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