Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia saw an unprecedented demonstration in Uzbekistan, when at least 1,000 people gathered in the eastern town of Andijan to demand justice for a group of 23 young men accused of being Islamic extremists, BBC reported on Tuesday. Long lines of protestors stretched down the streets around the courthouse - women on one side, men on the other. The call for justice was extremely well organised. The protesters were dressed in their best clothes and the scene was peaceful and good humoured. They had made long wooden benches especially for the women to sit down and had brought supplies of food and water. The demonstrators even had their own guards and a cameraman to ward off any interference by the militia, the report added, noting that the protest was organised by the families of the accused, many of whom had several sons already in jail. Two days later, demonstrators suspended their protests awaiting the court verdict, local news agencies reported. But on Thursday night protesters, many of them armed, attacked a prison and freed at least 2,000 inmates, including religious prisoners and ordinary criminals, mainstream international news agencies reported. On Friday, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and other leaders promptly rushed to Andijan, where witnesses reported chaos in the streets, AP reported. The city near the Kyrgyz border has been the scene of growing unrest in recent weeks. The 23 defendants are charged with anti-constitutional activity and forming a criminal and extremist organisation, but rights activists say the case is part of a broad government crackdown on religious dissent. Valijon Atakhonjonov, the brother of one of the accused, said security forces fired shots in the air as thousands of people massed in front of the local administration building. "The people have risen," AP quoted him as saying. But a government spokesman said on Friday that administrative buildings in the city remained under government control, while news reports indicated that Tashkent was sending troops to the city. Thousands of Muslims have been jailed in Uzbekistan over the past few years in a government campaign that critics say has affected many innocent believers and only inflamed anger against Karimov's harsh rule. The men, arrested in June, are accused of being members of the Akramia religious group and having contacts with the outlawed radical Islamic party Hizbut Tahrir. Authorities accuse Hizbut Tahrir of inspiring terror attacks in Central Asia's most populous nation last year that killed more than 50. The group, which claims to eschew violence, denied responsibility. Akramia unites followers of jailed Uzbek Islamic dissident Akram Yuldashev, who was accused of calling for the overthrow of the predominantly Muslim country's secular government, an accusation they denied, AP said. The group's members are considered the backbone of Andijan's small business community, giving employment to thousands of people in the impoverished and densely populated Ferghana Valley. Following the unrest in Andijan, Tashkent closed its borders with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz border service said on Friday that Bishkek also sealed off its frontier with Uzbekistan. Andijan is only a short drive from the Kyrgyz border. Two teenage brothers were killed by a landmine explosion on the volatile border with Uzbekistan, a spokeswoman for the Kyrgyzstan's border service said on Wednesday. The explosion occurred in southern Kyrgyzstan's Kadamjai district on Tuesday, AFP reported. Both boys are thought to have been in their late teens. "An investigation is under way. Mined areas are marked, but people don't pay attention to the notices," the spokeswoman was quoted as saying. Uzbekistan began laying landmines along its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 1999 to reduce incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the terrorist organisation listed by the US State Department. In Tajikistan, a local court handed down prison sentences of three to nine years on Wednesday to seven people accused of belonging to Hizbut Tahrir and agitating for the overthrow of the impoverished nation's government, AP reported. "They were found guilty of fomenting racial and religious hatred, organising an armed group, calling for the overthrow of the government and participating in an extremist group and illegal party," Sadyk Kurbanov, the judge in the northern Sogd district, reportedly said. A decision by the president of Turkmenistan to ban libraries has drawn sharp criticism from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The world library body said it "strongly protests the closure of libraries in Turkmenistan and its impact on freedom of access to information and freedom of expression in the country." On Tuesday, the IFLA noted that the government was also hampering internet access and interfering with the educational system, forcing study of the president's "Rukhnama ideology, which denies any influence by civilization, science or culture on the development of the Turkmen people." Foreign literature, newspapers, and magazines are banned in Central Asia's most reclusive state, according to media reports. IFLA joins organisations such as the International League for Human Rights (ILHR), the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHFHL) and the Memorial Human Rights Centre (MHRC) in appealing to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) to protest human rights violations in the energy-rich country.