HRD Gaybulla Jalilov.

Uznews.net – Human rights activists have been trying to establish the whereabouts of their colleague Gaybulla Jalilov since 5 September when he was detained by police.

The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan said that its member Jalilov was detained by police in Karshi at 2200 local time on 5 September.

Several men in police uniform attacked him that night when he was going home after calling on his colleague Nodir Ahatov and drove him in an unknown direction.

Next morning Nodir Ahatov and Gulshan Karayeva went to the regional and town police departments and the national security department to find out about Jalilov but the law-enforcement agencies said that they were not holding Jalilov.

Talib Yakubov, the society’s honorary member, suggested that Jalilov’s detention was linked to the shooting in Tashkent on 29 August.

It was established that the two men who had been killed by security officers near the Kukcha mosque were a father and a son from Kashkadarya Region.

Yakubov said that people allegedly involved in this incident were being detained in the region, and suggested that the authorities might have well detained Gaybulla Jalilov as part of the investigation into this incident.

This theory is proven by the authorities’ secrecy about Jalilov’s whereabouts as anti-terrorism measures in Uzbekistan are shrouded in secrecy and are accompanied with human rights violations.

Another reason for Jalilov’s detention may be activist Oyazimhon Hidirova’s release in line with the amnesty campaign announced in connection with the 18th anniversary of the country’s independence, Yakubov thinks.

The Uzbek authorities try to always hold a certain number of dissidents in jail, replacing released activists with others, Talib Yakubov said.