Government clampdown intensifies

The Uzbek government has intensified a clampdown on public dissent in Central Asia's most populous state, following protests in the eastern province of Andijan, where upwards of 1,000 were feared dead. "The authorities have increased pressure on rights groups and opposition party members in Uzbekistan over the past few days," Surat Ikramov, head of the local rights organisation, Initiative Group of Independent Rights Activists of Uzbekistan (IGIRAU), told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent, on Tuesday. "Moreover, several rights activist were beaten up and are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. Some of them have been detained, while the majority of rights activists and members of the [non-registered] opposition parties are held under some sort of a house arrest," Ikramov claimed. He added that he himself could not leave his home as security officials around his apartment would not allow him to do so. His comments came one day after Uzbek authorities detained more than a dozen activists from another local rights group Ezgulik early on Monday. "About 30 armed police officers came to the house of Vasilya Inoyatova, head of the group, in Tashkent at 02:00 local time and arrested all Ezgulik activists there, some of them were assaulted and beaten by the police," the group said in a statement on Monday. Also on Monday, the Uzbek authorities refused permission for activists of the non-registered opposition party 'Birlik' [Unity] to hold a peaceful demonstration in front of the Uzbek justice ministry to show their discontent over the rejection of numerous applications to register the party. Around 100 party members were detained by the police not far from the ministry building, the opposition group said. They claimed that approximately 150 party activists had been detained and were being kept in custody in various parts of the country. Some party members were not allowed to come to the capital and others were facing increasing pressure and persecution by the authorities on the ground, the group reported. Ikramov said the recent clampdown was a direct consequence of the bloody confrontation in Andijan on 13 May, in the densely populated and volatile Ferghana Valley. "The authorities are 'concerned' [afraid] that rights defenders and opposition activists via their protests and demonstrations can initiate a popular revolt as it happened there [in Andijan]. Therefore, the pressure is intensifying," he explained. "The crackdown on rights activists in Uzbekistan, which intensified after the events in Andijan, is taking absurd and extreme forms and we are calling upon the international community to demand a clear answer and explanation on the issue from the Uzbek government," Inoyatova of Ezgulik said in a statement. Inoyatova said earlier that upwards of 3,000 people could be missing in the region after security forces indiscriminately opened fire at protesters in Andijan. Her colleague Ikramov urged the international community to put pressure on the Uzbek government demanding that it stop harassing and persecuting rights defenders and opposition activists, warning that Tashkent's crackdown would only fuel public discontent. Svetlana Artikova, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, announced on 27 May that according to the authorities, the official death toll in the Andijan unrest had reached 173. However, rights groups claimed the number of dead was closer to 1,000. Major international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), the New York-based International League of Human Rights (ILHR) and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), warned earlier that a further crackdown by the government was imminent.