In contrast to NPR, the British public broadcasting network, the BBC, stood by one of its reporters after he got in hot water.  The BBC is defending its reporter in Tajikistan, Urunboy Usmonov, following a ruling that he has “ties to a banned Islamist extremist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir,” Journalism.co.uk reported.

A BBC report explains that Usmonov alleges that he wasn’t working with the group, but rather was “working on reports about the group.”

The BBC stated that it “believes that no evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever emerged during the trial” and that it wants to know more about Usmonov’s claims that “he had been tortured and forced to sign a false confession while in detention.”

While Usmonov was “sentenced to three years in prison,” the judge “granted amnesty,” according to Journalism.co.uk.