human rights in Uzbekistan
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The state of human rights in Uzbekistan has faced heavy criticism for arbitrary arrests, religious persecution, and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. The United States State Department has designated Uzbekistan a Country of Particular Concern for religious persecution.[1]
Freedom of religion
Religious literature is often confiscated and be destroyed.[2]
Forum 18, a human rights organization based in Norway, has documented raids by Uzbek police in which participants in unregistered religious services were beaten, fined, threatened and intimidated. In August 2005 one of the organisation's reporters was detained and deported by the authorities at Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan, but it carries on covering that country.[2]
History
2004
The U.S. State Department's 2004 report on human rights in Uzbekistan found limited improvement. While no detainees died while in police custody, police negligence led to the deaths of four prisoners. National Security Service officials "tortured, beat, and harassed" citizens but human rights activists were allowed to investigate instances in which prisoners died and activists suspected torture as the cause of death. Security forces did not arrest journalists and three were released. Some non-governmental organizations, most notably the Open Society Institute, were not allowed to register with the government, and thus prevented from work in Uzbekistan.[3]
2005
In 2005 the Uzbek government arrested Sanjar Umarov, an opposition politician, and
raided the office of Sunshine Uzbekistan, an opposition political alliance. United States Senators Bill Frist and
Tashkent citizens found the body of Kim Khen Pen Khin, a Pentecostal, on 11 June 2005. According to one another Pentecostal church member police treated church members worse than animals, several beating three of them. One, a pastor, had a concussion. Police initially accused Kural Bekjanov, another church member, of murdering Khin, but dropped the charges against him two days later. When police discovered his religion they broke his ribs and put needles under his fingernails to get him to renounce Christianity.[5]
In August the Uzbek government detained Elena Urlayeva, a human rights activist, on charges of disseminating anti-government leaflets. In October a Tashkent court ordered Urlayeva to undergo psychiatric treatment in a mental health facility in a legal preceding in which neither she nor her lawyer were present. The government released Urlayeva on 27 October after officials abused and beat her.[4]
The Immigration Service and Border Guards of the Government of Uzbekistan detained Igor Rotar, a human rights activist who works for Forum 18 and Radio Free Europe, on 11 August. Rotar's plane took off from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and arrived at Tashkent Airport at 10:25AM. Amnesty International condemned the incident, saying his "detention is part of a wave of intimidation and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders by the Uzbekistani authorities that escalated following the events in Andijan in May this year." Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said, "We are deeply concerned for Rotar's safety. He should be allowed to contact his organization and a lawyer, and should be released immediately."[6]
2006
An unknown individual strangled Karina Rivka Loiper, secretary to Rabbi Abe David Gurevich, and her mother on 12 June in Tashkent. While police ruled it a robbery, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Commonwealth of Independent States called for an investigation.[7] Jewish community leaders said a spokesman for the Committee on Religious Affairs warned them against "politicizing" Loiper's death.[8]
On 25 October the Karshi-Khanabad court fined two Baptists from Ferghana and Tashkent USD $438 while four others were given smaller fines for participating in unregistered religious activity after police raided a Baptist church in the city. 30 police raided a Pentecostal church in Tashkent on 13 November. Another raid on 27 August yielded 38 unapproved pieces of literature.[9]
Uzbek state television played a show entitled "Hypocrites" on 30 November and 1 December, in which Protestant missionaries were said to have engaged in plagiarism and drug use. The program said, "On the pretext of financially helping people in need, [missionaries] instill their own teachings in these people's minds." Converts are "zombies." Begzot Kadyrov, specialist of the State's Religious Affairs Committee, commenting on the program, said, "Turning away from the religion of one's ancestors is not only one's own mistake but could also lead to very bad situations between brothers, sisters and between parents and their children." Converts to Christianity are "lost to family, friends and society."[10]
2007
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), Human Rights Watch, and the International Federation for Human Rights International asked the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to continue monitoring human rights in Uzbekistan on 22 March, 2007. The council is considering ending its observation. Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the International Helsinki Federation, criticized the suggestion, saying, "What that would really imply would be that the United Nations would reward the Uzbek government for its repressive policies and its refusal to cooperate with the Council. If the Human Rights Council can't take up the problems in Uzbekistan, then what is it for?"[11]
Umida Niazova case
Uzbek police detained Umida Niazova (also spelled Niyazova), a human rights activist who worked for Veritas and as a translator for Human Rights Watch in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 21 January 2007 in the Tashkent airport. On 22 January police arrested her near the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border on charges of possession of anti-state materials, moving her back to Tashkent on 26 January. In the first altercation police confiscated her computer and passport. Later that month her lawyer told her an expert commission had found no anti-state materials on her laptop, the government would not press charges, and she could retrieve her laptop and passport from the customs agency. Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, "Niazova was threatened with these charges for political reasons. In our view, the authorities wanted to intimidate Umida Niazova into stopping her human rights work. Niazova is the victim of political persecution and apparently of entrapment,” said Cartner. There is no reason whatsoever why she should be in custody. We are profoundly concerned about her well-being"[12]
On May 1, 2007, an Uzbek court convicted Niazova and sentenced her to seven years in prison, on charges of "preparing or disseminating material containing a threat to security and order," according to Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry.[13] The Uzbek government alleged she was storing on her laptop literature by an Islamist extremist group. Niazova had written news stories about deadly protests in Andizhan, Uzbekistan in 2005. Human Rights Watch stated material on Niazova's computer that was labeled "extremist" by the government was a Human Rights Watch report on the Andizhan killings and an article by an independent Uzbek journalist.
Reporters, foreign diplomats, and human rights observers were barred from the two-day trial. Uzbekistan's government stated that during the investigation of Niazova it came to light that she used funds from foreign diplomats to finance unregistered NGOs. A government statement claims, "These facts, according to international law, cannot but be viewed as an attempt at interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state." The 56-member Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)--of which Uzbekistan is a member--the United States government, and Human Rights Watch criticized the sentence.
On May 8, her sentence was suspended due to her confession in open court and the court's desire for her to be able to raise her young child.[14]
References
- ^ Court orders preacher into 'exile' WorldNetDaily
- ^ a b Uzbekistan: Religious freedom survey, April 2005 Forum 18
- ^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004 United States Department of State
- ^ a b Uzbek human rights abuses Voice of America
- ^ Uzbekistan, Country Report The Voice of the Martyrs Canada
- ^ Uzbekistan: Authorities must release detained journalist Human Rights Watch
- ^ Jewish official murdered in Tashkent Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
- ^ Uzbek Jews murdered Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
- ^ Uzbekistan: Court fines Baptists and burns Bibles Forum 18
- ^ Uzbekistan cracksdown on Christians Spero News
- ^ Rights groups demand UN action against Uzbekistan RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
- ^ Uzbekistan: Release human rights defender Human Rights Watch
- ^ [Reuters report on Niazova conviction and sentence
- ^ [1] BBC
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