Former Liberty Radio journalist Sarwar Usmon named Honorary Member of Uzbekistan's Journalists' Union

Former Liberty Radio journalist Sarwar Usmon has been named an Honorary Member of Uzbekistan’s Journalists’ Union.

Sarwar Usmon, a well-known and experienced Uzbek journalist who spent much of his career with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Uzbek Service (Ozodlik) and was once a strong critic of the authorities, has been formally accepted as an honorary member of the Journalists’ Union of Uzbekistan.

The honor reflects a notable change in the official view of the veteran broadcaster, whose real name is Oktambek Karimov. His honorary membership card was presented to him at a roundtable held at the Journalists’ Union headquarters, with veteran media figures and press representatives in attendance.

For decades, he was a voice of dissent under the name Sarwar Usmon, and he became widely recognized for his sharp, analytical, and highly critical coverage of political and social issues in Uzbekistan while working from abroad for the U.S.-funded RFE/RL Uzbek Service.

Usmon was born in 1958 in Osh and graduated from the Republican Pedagogical Institute of Russian Language and Literature in Tashkent before devoting his life to international journalism.

Public figures and social media analysts in Uzbekistan have broadly seen this development as an important step toward recognizing the work of independent journalists who historically challenged the state apparatus.

The decision is being described as an unprecedented act of professional recognition for a journalist whose broadcast voice was once barred inside the country.