Crackdown on "independent" Muslim women

Following a recent spate of violence in Uzbekistan, Uzbek authorities have arbitrarily detained and harassed dozens of independent Muslim women, indicating a broadening of the government's crackdown on non-violent Muslims, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). In Uzbekistan, those Muslims practicing a different brand of faith from the state-approved model are often refered to as independents. "I am very concerned about this because it is clear to us that the government is capitalising on the recent violence to go after people that it wants to go after," Allison Gill, Uzbekistan researcher with HRW, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "The particular concern right now is that people being detained or harassed are tortured or ill-treated on a large scale and there is information about this." Calling for greater transparency by the government in relation to the detentions, she noted some detainees were being held incommunicado, which puts them at a serious risk of torture. Her comments coincided with a statement by the watchdog group on Tuesday documenting the arbitrary detention over the past two weeks of 40 independent Muslims, including 13 women, many of whom were relatives of men currently imprisoned for their religious beliefs or practices. Five of those detained during the recent police action were minors. "I have personally been able to document at least 40 detentions, and reports from our local rights contacts and detainees indicate that the level of detentions is probably a hundred, and not only in Tashkent, but around the country," the HRW researcher stated. A series of violent attacks in late March and early April, including explosions reportedly set off by several female suicide bombers in Tashkent, claimed the lives of an estimated 47 people. The government carried out several arrests, but have not charged the women recently detained with involvement in the suicide bombings or other violence. "The case of Khamida Karbaeva is very telling because she was not accused of any crime at all. She was detained with her child, she was abused. They targeted her about her decision to wear a scarf, they ripped off her headscarf, threatened to rape her and to destroy her reputation," Gill claimed. Police in Tashkent held Karbaeva, who was breastfeeding her 9-month-old baby at the time, for more than 24 hours. Without informing her, the National Security Service (SNB) officers had detained her 10-year-old son while Karbaeva was still in custody. The officers held him separately overnight without the presence of an adult relative or guardian. In another case, Nilufar Khaidarova, a 26-year-old woman, remained in police custody at an unknown location. "She was detained again because she is a Muslim woman and she is being kept incommunicado, which means her family is not going to have access to her and they will not have any information about where and how she is," she explained. According to the HRW researcher, the Uzbek authorities has been cracking down on independent Muslims for years using the same techniques, suggesting an emerging crisis in the Central Asia's most populated nation. Calling for greater international action, she remarked: "This is a critical time to act because we have seen this trend before. The international community can call upon the government to conduct investigations in accordance to the international law and human rights, to make a public communication against torture and they can also request that the media have access to places of temporary detention."