HRW calls for release of dissident

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the immediate release of a government dissident in Uzbekistan, allegedly beaten by police and now seriously ill. The group sees his arrest as the latest in a series of police actions intended to stifle public criticism of the state. “There has been a push to silence public criticism of the government,” office director for the watchdog group, Matilda Bogner, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on Wednesday. “The international community needs to make a concerted effort, to put pressure on the Uzbeks to allow public criticism and debate - and particularly to release Ergash Bobojanov.” In a statement issued the same day by the watchdog group, HRW said police arrested Bobojanov, a member of the opposition movement “Birlik” (Unity), at his home in the Ferghana Valley on 17 February, in what appears to be a renewed crackdown on those who publicly criticise the government of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. According to human rights activists in the Ferghana Valley, eyewitnesses saw police beat Bobojanov during his arrest, before subsequently taking him to the Ferghana Pre-Trial Detention Centre Number 10 where he was charged with criminal offences. In addition to criminal defamation - article 139 of the Uzbek criminal code - he was charged with revealing state secrets (article 125), and making death threats (112), relating to two articles he wrote for 'Res Puplica', a newspaper published in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, in 1999 and 2001. The articles, entitled “Bureaucracy of public servants is a danger to the government,” and “They demand that you pray for Islam Karimov,” were critical of Tashkent and raised issues of local government corruption. The dissident, who is in his sixties, is reportedly now in very poor health, suffering from constant convulsions and having difficulty speaking. He is believed to be a diabetic with heart problems. “The Bobojanov arrest shows the Uzbek authorities’ intolerance of criticism, HRW executive director for Europe and Central Asia, Elizabeth Andersen said. “And now this intolerance is endangering a man’s life.” But according to HRW, such arrests are hardly new. On 22 February, police in Tashkent detained Oleg Sarapulov, an assistant to an independent journalist who publishes his material on the Internet. He reportedly was held for two days without access to a lawyer or family. Later he told HRW that police questioned him about two articles critical of the Uzbek government in his possession and accused him of distributing these to others. The articles, found on the CentrAsia website, have become well known for their critical commentary on the inner workings of the Uzbek government, including inter-clan rivalries and corruption. HRW contends the site is now blocked on most Internet providers in Uzbekistan. According to Sarapulov, police planted leaflets on him published by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization that calls for the establishment of a Caliphate (an Islamic state) in traditionally Muslim lands and whose activities are illegal in Uzbekistan. Additionally, he told HRW that an ongoing investigation could lead to criminal charges that he was involved in anti-constitutional activities. His comments come less than a week after a court sentenced Ghairat Mekhliboev, another journalist, to seven years in prison for membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir, after publishing articles in several Uzbek newspapers, including the mainstream weekly ‘Khurriat’. “Prosecuting Mekhliboev may have been a way for the government to send a signal to today’s journalists not to overstep any boundaries,” Andersen said. In short, despite a government announcement in May of last year, ending pre-publication censorship, that declaration has yet to be put into practice. Bogner maintained that in the first half of the 1990s, the government had basically destroyed political opposition before subsequently cracking down on those practicing Islam outside the state structure. Moreover, journalists in Central Asia’s most populous nation had been controlled and restricted from publishing critical material. “When they do, the government responds strongly,” she claimed.