With Repression Continuing, EU Should Not Drop Sanctions
(Moscow, October 11, 2008) – Uzbek authorities should immediately and unconditionally release an independent journalist sentenced on October 10 on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Solijon Abdurakhmanov, a journalist known for his critical reporting, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling drugs, an offense he did not commit.
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Abdurakhmanov’s conviction is an affront to human rights and free speech in Uzbekistan. He often criticized local authorities, including law enforcement. It is clear that he is being punished for his work. Once again, the Uzbek government is showing that it will not tolerate dissent. 
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“Abdurakhmanov’s conviction is an affront to human rights and free speech in Uzbekistan,” said Igor Vorontsov, Uzbekistan researcher for Human Rights Watch. “He often criticized local authorities, including law enforcement. It is clear that he is being punished for his work. Once again, the Uzbek government is showing that it will not tolerate dissent.”
On October 13 and 14, the European Union is slated to review Uzbekistan’s human rights record to determine whether to continue the sanctions regime adopted in the aftermath of the 2005 Andijan massacre, when government forces shot hundreds of protesters, most of them unarmed (http://hrw.org/reports/2008/uzbekistan0508/ ). Among the assessment criteria established by the European Union for reviewing the sanctions are for the Uzbek government to stop the harassment of civil society and to release imprisoned rights defenders and dissidents.
Police in Nukus, 1,100 kilometers west of Tashkent, arrested Abdurakhmanov on June 7 after claiming that they had found 114.18 g of marijuana and 5.89 g of opium on the underside of his car. Abdurakhmanov denies knowing about or having anything to do with the drugs and his brother, Bakhrom, a lawyer who represented him at this trial, believes that the police planted the drugs. A few days before his arrest, Abdurakhmanov left his car in a local repair shop. He told his brother that the police monitored him closely after he picked up his car and until his arrest. The investigators failed to carry out basic investigative steps, such as checking the drugs for fingerprints despite repeated requests by Abdurakhmanov and his lawyer.
Abdurakhmanov is an outspoken journalist who has written on issues that are sensitive in Uzbekistan, such as social and economic justice, human rights, corruption, and the legal status of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic of which Nukus is the capital. He worked closely with UzNews, an independent online news agency, and also did freelance work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
Abdurakhmanov’s sentence comes just one week after a forum on the “Liberalization of the Mass Media,” co-sponsored by the EU and the Uzbek government, concluded in Tashkent. A group of independent organizations from EU member states that participated in the forum had warned that it should not be considered evidence of any improvement in Uzbekistan’s policy of suppressing free speech.
“Abdurakhmanov’s sentence is yet another blatant failure to meet the EU sanctions criteria,” said Vorontsov. “Any easing of the sanctions in the face if this travesty would be wholly unconscionable. It would send a signal that the EU stands by while Uzbekistan locks up its critics.”
Human Rights Watch urged EU governments and the United States to raise the case of Abdurakhmanov urgently with the Uzbek government and to demand his immediate release.
In the latest episode of a longstanding effort to obstruct Human Rights Watch’s work in Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government first denied work accreditation to Human Rights Watch’s researcher in Tashkent, then proceeded to outright ban him from entering the country. As a result, Human Rights Watch has been unable to maintain its presence in Uzbekistan since mid-July 2008.
In a September 29, 2008 letter to EU foreign ministers, Human Rights Watch urged the EU to uphold the sanctions against Uzbekistan and make clear they will not be lifted until all the assessment criteria have been met.
Peace and Justice Post 
Uzbekistan: Imprisoned Activists’ Health in Danger
December 18, 2008These activists should never have been imprisoned in the first place. That several of them are now suffering severe health problems as a result is an outrage, and only underscores the urgency of securing their immediate and unconditional release.
A UN review set for today of Uzbekistan’s human rights practices is a crucial opportunity to highlight concern about its abysmal human rights record and press for immediate steps to end abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
Uzbekistan is coming up for scrutiny before the United Nations’ global rights body, the Human Rights Council, under its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure in Geneva.
Of urgent concern is the plight of imprisoned human rights defenders – currently numbering at least 11 – and other independent political and civic activists whom the Uzbek government has detained on politically motivated grounds. According to recent reports received by Human Rights Watch, a number of these activists are suffering severe health problems as a result of poor conditions and ill-treatment in Uzbekistan’s notoriously abusive prison system.
“These activists should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” said Igor Vorontsov, Uzbekistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “That several of them are now suffering severe health problems as a result is an outrage, and only underscores the urgency of securing their immediate and unconditional release.”
A new list of imprisoned human rights defenders and activists in Uzbekistan published by Human Rights Watch today gives up-to-date case summaries, detailing the circumstances of each individual’s wrongful detention and highlighting details of the severe health problems faced by a number of them. Among those whose health condition demands immediate attention are Yusuf Jumaev, Alisher Karamatov, Jamshid Karimov, Norboi Kholjigitov, Rasul Khudainasarov, and Sanjar Umarov. In some of these cases, authorities have not only failed to provide adequate medical care, but have actively undermined their health through torture, ill-treatment and the use of psychotropic drugs.
Human Rights Watch urged UN member states taking part in the Uzbekistan review to use the opportunity to send a strong, unequivocal message to Tashkent about the unacceptable state of human rights in the country and about the necessity of concrete and meaningful rights improvements.
Key areas of concern highlighted by Human Rights Watch in its submission to the UPR included the 2005 massacre by government forces in Andijan, in which hundreds were killed and for which the Uzbek government continues to deny justice; the ongoing persecution of human rights defenders and repression of independent civil society activism; torture and ill-treatment in the criminal justice system, which Uzbek authorities have failed to take effective action to address; repression of media freedoms, and; religious persecution targeting in particular Muslims who practice their faith outside state controls or who belong to unregistered religious organizations.
Human Rights Watch also called on the Uzbek government to engage positively and effectively in the human rights review process and to take seriously all recommendations made.
“Improving the dismal human rights situation in Uzbekistan will take more than a rhetorical commitment or yet another seminar,” said Vorontsov. “The Uzbek government should demonstrate real political will by immediately releasing wrongfully detained human rights activists and issuing invitations to all UN rights monitors who have requested access.”
Specific recommendations that Human Rights Watch urged the UN Human Rights Council to address to the Uzbek government included the following:
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Tags:human rights activists, Human Rights Watch, Igor Vorontsov, ill-treatment, imprisonment, the Andijan massacre, Uzbekistan
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