Crackdown on human rights work intensifies…

IFEX – News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT – UZBEKISTAN

11 December 2009

Stop attacks, harassment of activists, says Human Rights Watch

SOURCE: Human Rights Watch

Crackdown on human rights work intensifies as elections near

(Human Rights Watch/IFEX) – New York, December 10, 2009 – The Uzbek
Government should stop obstructing the work of human rights activists and
allow them to operate in the country freely and without fear for their
safety, Human Rights Watch said today.

In recent days, Uzbek authorities in Karshi and Margilan have detained
human rights advocates to prevent them from meeting with a Human Rights
Watch researcher. In Karshi, the Human Rights Watch researcher was also
attacked by an unknown assailant, then detained and forced to leave the
city. The attack appeared to be a setup.

“Uzbekistan’s international partners have been praising the government for
human rights improvements, but this praise is wholly undeserved,” said
Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Anyone who tries to report on human rights in Uzbekistan clearly risks
getting attacked, arrested or worse.”

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for December 27, 2009. It is not
clear whether the recent efforts to halt human rights work were linked to
the election or part of an ongoing effort to stifle discussion about the
human rights situation in the country.

Key international actors, including the United States and the European
Union, have grown increasingly silent in the face of Uzbek government
abuses, arguing in favor of what they term “quiet diplomacy” instead.

Detentions and Attack in Karshi

On December 5, police in Karshi, in southern Uzbekistan, prevented a
meeting arranged by telephone between Nodir Akhatov and Gulshan Karaeva, of
the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, and Tanya Lokshina, a Human Rights
Watch researcher. Police officers stopped the minibus Akhatov was taking to
Karaeva’s house for the meeting and took him to a police station, where
police confiscated his phone. Then four officers took him to a nearby café,
“inviting” him for a meal, making clear that he was not allowed to leave.
Then they took him to a second café and detained him there until well after
Lokshina had been forced to leave Karshi.

Akhatov told Human Rights Watch that at one point he asked an officer why
the authorities were so concerned about his meeting Lokshina. He said the
officer answered, “We will not let anyone meddle in our internal affairs.”

Also on the morning of December 5, a police official contacted Karaeva to
tell her he had allegedly found a doctor who would examine her son who has
a disability, and that he would drive them to the hospital himself. When
Karaeva declined, he suggested that she go alone to be introduced to the
doctor. Karaeva again declined, explaining she was expecting guests.

That morning, as Lokshina was walking toward the street where Karaeva
lives, a young woman unknown to Lokshina lunged at her without warning,
screaming loudly. The assailant grabbed Lokshina’s hair, and pulled
violently, trying to drag her away. Lokshina called out for help, but none
of the people who saw the attack came to her assistance. A police officer
suddenly appeared, pulled Lokshina into his car, and accused her of
provoking a street fight.

He took Lokshina to a police station, where she was questioned about why
she came to Karshi and whom she planned to visit.

Police photocopied Lokshina’s identification, demanded to see the contents
of her bag and her notebook, and made her write a description of the
attack, even though she said she did not want to press charges. They held
her for four hours, saying the police chief wanted to speak to her. Then an
apparently higher-ranking officer from the security services put Lokshina
into a taxi, which took her to Tashkent.

The police officers refused to identify themselves and insisted that
Lokshina had not been detained, though they forbade her to use her cell
phone or leave. Lokshina saw her attacker leave the police building, use
her cell phone, and move around the building without police escort.

The attack left Lokshina with trauma to the neck, light bruising, the loss
of some hair and a violent headache for over 24 hours.

Margilan

The next day, Lokshina planned to meet with Ahmadjon Madumarov, of the
Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan, in Margilan, a city in
the Ferghana Valley. But police officers came to Madumarov’s home and told
him he had to come to the station to fill out a questionnaire for family
members of people serving prison sentences on religion-related charges.

He was allowed to leave the station for a short time to attend a wake,
though he was followed by a police car, and then was held again in the
station for hours. He finally told the police they should show him an
official summons if they wanted to keep him longer. He was released at
about 5:15 p.m., an hour after Lokshina left Margilan.

“What happened to Lokshina and the people who tried to meet her has
frequently been happening to human rights monitors in Uzbekistan, and it
shows the government has something to hide,” Cartner said. “It is high time
Uzbekistan’s international partners speak out, loud and clear, to say that
this despicable practice must stop.”

Last month seven human rights and political activists were detained, three
of whom were also beaten, when they attempted to meet with a political
opposition leader.

The Uzbek government has long obstructed Human Rights Watch’s work in
Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch has been unable to maintain a continuous
presence in the country since July 2008, when the authorities first denied
a researcher work accreditation and then barred the person from entering
the country. On July 21, 2009, Uzbek authorities stopped another Human
Rights Watch researcher at the Tashkent airport and deported her.

http://www.ifex.org/uzbekistan/2009/12/11/activists_harassed/

For more information:
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10118
USA
hrwnyc (@) hrw.org
Phone: +1 212 290 4700
Fax: +1 212 736 1300
http://www.hrw.org

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