Uzbekistan

(WiPC/IFEX) – On 8 January 2002, International PEN learned that Uzbek poet Yusuf Dzhumaev, detained since October 2001, was released on 29 December. According to WiPC’s sources in Uzbekistan, Dzhumaev was brought before the Bukhara Regional Court on 29 December. At the open trial, attended by the local media, humanitarian groups, relatives and neighbours, he […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – The following is a 20 December 2001 WiPC alert: UZBEKISTAN/CZECH REPUBLIC: Extradition hearing against writer Muhammed Salih refused: Salih returns to Norway. On 14 December 2001, Uzbek writer and exiled opposition leader Muhammed Salih returned to Norway after the Prague Municipal Court refused to grant a warrant for his extradition to Uzbekistan. International […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a 19 November 2001 letter to Uzbekistan’s Minister of the Interior Zokerjon Almatov and Minister of Defence Kadir Gulyamov, RSF asked the Uzbek authorities to lift the administrative obstacles that are preventing journalists from entering Afghanistan. “Journalists representing 150 media outlets from many countries remain blocked in Termez, at the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border, […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 14 August 2001 letter to Uzbek President Islam Karimov, CPJ expressed concern over the criminal charges of forgery against TV ALC director Shukhrat Babadjanov. The charges against Babadjanov relate to a ten-year-old letter of recommendation for Babadjanov that was evidently signed by Ruzi Chariev, a prominent Uzbek painter, but written by […]

(JuHI/IFEX) – On 12 July 2001, Ruslan Sharipov, president of the newly launched Union of Independent Journalists of Uzbekistan and correspondent for the Russian news agency “Prima”, was attacked by a group of National Security Service (NSS) of Uzbekistan employees. In a phone conversation with JuHI, Sharipov said that while he was on his way […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – Writer Mamadali Makhmudov, who is serving a fourteen year prison term, is said to have been returned from Tashkent prison medical centre back to a strict regime prison camp in Chirchik, despite his poor health. According to WiPC’s information, on 16 June 2001, Makhmudov was transferred from the Tashkent Prison medical centre, where […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 25 May 2001 letter to President Islam Karimov, CPJ protested his government’s efforts to silence the U.S.-based Voice of America journalist Jahongir Mamatov by harassing his relatives in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. In the early hours of Thursday 17 May, police officers and officials from Uzbekistan’s notorious National Security Service […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is seriously concerned about the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Emin Usman on 28 February 2001 and is calling on the authorities to launch a full investigation. Usman was arrested on 11 February, while driving near his home outside Tashkent, and held in the basement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 20 November 2000 letter, CPJ appealed to President Islam Karimov to release journalist Shodi Mardiev on humanitarian grounds. CPJ had expressed a similar request in a 12 January letter to the president. Since that time, Mardiev’s health has deteriorated even further. On 11 June 1998, a Samarkand court sentenced Mardiev, a […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that on 4 July 2000, the Uzbek Ministry of Interior in Tashkent responded to a Human Rights Watch report which claimed that imprisoned writer Mamadali Makhmudov is in poor health. The ministry is said to have rejected the report, adding that Makhumdov’s health is “satisfactory” and that he […]

**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 and 19 August 1999** (HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 22 June 2000 Human Rights Watch press release: Uzbek Poet Jailed, Tortured Rights Group Fears for Mamdali Makhmudov’s Life (New York, June 22, 2000) – Human Rights Watch today cautioned that imprisoned Uzbek poet Mamadali Makhmudov is in dire physical […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 8 March 2000 Human Rights Watch press release: (New York, March 8, 2000) — Yesterday Uzbek police confiscated reports published by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. Police at the Syrdarya regional court took the reports from a Human Rights Watch representative who is monitoring the trial of twelve […]

In a 24 January 2000 letter to the chair of the Committee of Press and Information, Utkir Hashimov, IFJ expressed its concern over the recent closure of two non-governmental TV stations just prior to national elections. According to IFJ’s information, on 17 November 1999, the Interagency Coordination Commission (MKK), the Uzbek government’s committee on governing […]

**Updates IFEX alerts of 11 August, 17 July and 29 June 1998** (CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has written President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan to draw his attention to the deteriorating health of Shadi Mardiev, a 63-year-old reporter with the state-run Samarkand radio station, who was sentenced on 11 June 1998 to an eleven-year […]

(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 25 August 1999 For immediate release WAN Appeals to Uzbekistan President to Release Journalists The World Association of Newspapers has called on Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov to release six journalists who were jailed and allegedly tortured for insulting him and for their ties to the […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 18 August 1999 Human Rights Watch press release: UZBEK TORTURE VICTIMS SENTENCED TO PRISON TERMS Describe Brutal Torture Methods (New York, August 18, 1999) — Disregarding allegations of torture, an Uzbek court today convicted six men with ties to a banned political party in a high-profile political trial. The […]