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This week in Central Asia, representatives of ethnic Uyghurs living in Kyrgyzstan protested on Thursday outside the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, demanding the release of Huseyin Cecil, an ethnic Uyghur deported to China, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Cecil, a Canadian citizen who fled China in 1994, was arrested in Uzbekistan in March while visiting the country and later extradited to China. He was accused of involvement in human rights activities for the Uighur minority in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). He now faces a possible death penalty. China has still not confirmed to Canadian authorities that Cecil is in custody and Chris MacLeod, the lawyer of Cecil’s wife, has appealed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to send an envoy to China, Canadian Press reported on Friday. A spokesman for the Uzbek State Religious Affairs Committee, Aziz Abidov, on Monday rejected criticism from Forum 18, a Norwegian-based religious freedom organisation, over a new law on religion in the country, RFE/RL reported on Monday. Forum 18 raised concerns on 29 June on new restrictions on the publication and distribution of religious materials without a licence and increased penalties for proselytising. Abidov in return said that the organisation was “using any occasion to accuse Uzbekistan of persecuting believers”. A landslide caused by heavy rain killed seven people and injured two in eastern Uzbekistan on Sunday, AP reported. The landslide in the Bostandyk district hit a group of picnickers from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, after they reportedly ignored warnings by local officials. German medical groups have sent humanitarian aid worth some US $575,000 to Uzbekistan, an Uzbek news site reported on Wednesday. The cargo includes medicine and equipment for eye surgery. Berlin’s relations with Uzbekistan remain good, despite the European Union (EU)’s strong criticism of the former Soviet republic after the bloody events in the south eastern city of Andijan in May last year when Uzbek security forces suppressed a popular demonstration killing up to 1,000 civilians, according to rights groups. Another NGO faces possible closure in Uzbekistan, where over the past six months numerous international organisations and media outlets have been expelled, AP reported on Wednesday. The US-based aid group, Urban Institute, is accused of violating Uzbek legislation and a court in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, is to decide on the future of the NGO’s office in the country. Tashkent has grown increasingly wary of international organisations operating on its soil, following last year’s bloody crackdown in Andijan. An independent journalist’s website has been inaccessible in Uzbekistan since 26 June, allegedly due to government censure, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) noted on Wednesday. Sergei Ejkov launched his Russian-language site in April. The censure was, according to him, “the traditional reaction of authorities to viewpoints that stray from official discourse”. Since November last year, all local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must be connected to the network operated by state-owned Uzbektelecom – making it easier to set up blacklists and to block websites that are critical of the government. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a controversial media bill on Wednesday that was approved by Kazakhstan’s upper chamber of parliament. The bill imposes stronger restrictions on the media and has been criticised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), journalists and the US. The international media freedom watchdog, Freedom House, on Thursday urged democratic governments attending next week’s G8 summit in St. Petersburg to voice their disapproval of Nazarbayev’s signing of the restrictive amendments to the media law. On Tuesday, Nazarbayev and his eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, announced a merger of their parties, AP reported. The move tightens Nazarbayev’s grip on power and reduce his daughter’s growing political influence. The merger of the president’s Otan party and his daughter’s Asar party creates an organisation with 700,000 members.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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