Posts Tagged ‘Uzbekistan’
February 28, 2013
Mutabar Tadjibayeva, one of Uzbekistan’s best known human rights defenders and
Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award 2008, has filed a complaint against Uzbekistan for her brutal torture and forced sterilisation when she was serving an eight-year prison sentence for her human rights activities. The international human rights organisations FIDH and REDRESS recently filed the complaint on her behalf before the UN Human Rights Committee. This is the first known case before the Committee involving a Uzbek human rights defender being forcibly sterilised.
Tadijbayeva has repeatedly sought an investigation from Uzbek authorities into the serious human rights violations that she has suffered since 2002, but her claims have never been investigated and no-one has ever been prosecuted for them. Tadjibayeva is asking the Committee to order Uzbekistan to conduct an effective investigation, punish those found responsible and provide her with reparation, including compensation, as well as her full medical records about the surgery that left her infertile, among other things.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | 3 Comments »
Tags: FIDH, Human right, Human rights defender, illegal detention, illtreatment, International Federation for Human Rights, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA 2008, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, REDRESS, sexual violence, Souhayr Belhassen, torture, UN, United Nations Human Rights Committee, Uzbekistan
February 3, 2013
Human rights defenders from Iran, Cambodia, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Colombia and Mauritania are finalists for the 2013 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. The jury is made up of members of the Irish and the European Parliament as well as Front Line Defenders board member Noeline Blackwell.
The winner of the 2013 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders will be announced at a ceremony in Dublin later in the year.
Finalists for Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013 are:
Mam Sonando – Cambodia – has devoted his life to helping the poor and disenfranchised of Cambodia, fighting for their rights while also following the non-violent precepts of his Buddhist faith. He is a journalist and the Director of one of only three independent radio stations in Cambodia where the state has almost complete monopoly over the media, and crackdowns on free speech have led to widespread self-censorship. He is also founder and president of a national organisation called the Association of Democrats, which actively promotes democracy and human rights. He was arrested In early July 2012 and despite there being absolutely no evidence to link him with the so-called secessionist movement, he was found guilty on 1 October 2012 of instigating insurrection and incitement to take up arms against the state and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
Mansoureh Behkish – Iran – is a women’s rights activist and co-founder of Mothers of Khavaran and Mothers of Laleh Park. As a supporter of non-violent resistance and a HRD she has spent the past three decades empowering survivors and victims of human rights abuses. In particular she seeks to help the mothers, sisters and wives of the thousands imprisoned or executed by the Islamic Republic authorities, to seek justice through legal and humanitarian channels.As a result of her work as a HRD, she herself has faced continuous harassment, confiscation of her passport and violation of her right to travel and three terms of imprisonment.
David Rabelo Crespo – Colombia – has worked for 35 years in the defence of human rights. In the early years, he worked mainly in defence of social, economic and cultural rights, and later worked for worker’s rights, promoting social and union mobilisation. In more recent years, he has worked to defend the lives of others although in doing so he has put his own life at risk. Between 1998 and 2004 he was director of the Municipal Peace Council, a body devised to protect the lives of the local people who, with the arrival of the paramilitaries were at risk from the upsurge in assassinations of social and community leaders, and a series of massacres carried out with impunity. David Rabelo Crespo has devoted his life to promoting respect for human rights and international humanitarian standards in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, and even though he is now imprisoned he continues to work to protect the rights of political prisoners in Colombian prisons.
Bahtiyor Hamraev – Uzbekistan – has been a dedicated campaigner for human rights in Uzbekistan for the last 15 years. He has been head of the Djizak regional branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) and has documented human rights violations in this region. In recent years he has become the main contact with families of imprisoned human rights defenders, helping to spread the information about their conditions in detention, the torture and ill-treatment and helping to provide the families with legal aid and financial assistance. The price he has had to pay has sometimes been far too high, but despite all of these difficulties, he has continued to work, refused to leave the country and tried to make a difference in one of the worst human rights situations in the region. Sadly, Hamraev is suffering from terminal cancer, yet he continues to send information about human rights violations and to assist families of imprisoned human rights defenders.
Biram Dah Ould Abeid – Mauritania – has been threatened, defamed and harassed because of his work for human rights and against slavery in Mauritania. He has been arrested and ill-treated on several occasions and in April 2012 he was “disappeared” for several weeks into a secret, high-security government facility, without being able to contact to his family and without any legal assistance. It is believed he would have been killed but for the international outcry. He was released in September 2012 but has chosen to continue his work inside Mauritania.
Ruth Mumbi – Kenya – is a passionate community mobiliser, and is the founder and current National Coordinator of Bunge la Wamama, a women’s chapter of Bunge la Mwananchi a movement that conducts strong advocacy and campaigning on issues of social justice and accountability in different parts of Kenya. She was born and still lives in Kiamaiko, a Nairobi slum and she began her involvement in community mobilisation initiatives in the late 1990s, when she was barely 16 years of age.
For further information please contact Jim Loughran, Head of Communications, Front Line Defenders
Tel +353 (0)1 212 37 50
Mobile +353 (0)87 9377586
Email: jimloughran@frontlinedefenders.org
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Tags: awards, Cambodia, Colombia, Front Line, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Iran, Kenya, Mauritania, nominees 2013, Uzbekistan
January 21, 2013
On 12 January 2013, human rights defender Mr Vitaly Ponomarev received several anonymous death threats through electronic mail. Vitaly Ponomarev is the head of the Central Asia programme of Human Rights Centre (HRC) Memorial, which was founded in 1999 and has a major focus on documenting human rights violations in Central Asian states, particularly Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, in close cooperation with local human right defenders.
The messages received on 12 January, in Russian and Uzbek languages and originating from an IP address in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, threatened Vitaly Ponomarev with death if he moved to the south of Kyrgyzstan, and also issued death threats against his family members living in Moscow. HRC Memorial has lodged a complaint to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and requested an investigation to be launched into the threats. The messages follow
the publication on web site of Memorial on 27 December 2012, of a report containing information about reported torture by Uzbekistan’s security services against Uzbek citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Front Line Defenders believes that the death threats issued against Vitaly Ponomarev are directly linked to his work.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Central Asia, death threats, Front Line Defenders, Frontline, human rights, Human rights defender, Russia, Uzbekistan, Vitaly Ponomarev
December 13, 2012
Front Line Defenders reports that on On 7 December 2012, human rights defender Ms Saida Kurbanova was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for ‘hooliganism’, after being attacked by two women who alleged that the human rights defender had been the one to attack them. Saida Kurbanova is the head of the branch of the non-governmental Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU). It is reported that following the arrest, the hard disk of Saida Kurbanova’s computer was confiscated.
Since her arrest, Saida Kurbanova has been detained in the temporary detention facility at Pakhtakor police station. On 10 December 2012 a representative of Pakhtakor police station reportedly refused to pass on a food parcel and warm clothes to Saida Kurbanova which her family had brought her. In addition, her release on 21 December 2012 is reportedly subject to her paying for the 15 days spent in the temporary detention facility!
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the use of orchestrated attacks on human rights defenders as a means to accuse them of having instigated the incident, and consequently charging them fines or sentencing them to administrative detention. Front Line Defenders believes that Saida Kurbanova’s sentencing is linked to her human rights activities and fears for her physical and psychological integrity and security while in detention.
Appeals@frontlinedefenders.org
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Tags: detention, Front Line, harassment, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Saida Kurbanova, Uzbekistan, woman human rights defender
November 21, 2012
In various parts of the world human rights defenders brave legal harassment, arbitrary detention, ill treatment, torture and sometimes death, in seeking to secure freedom and dignity for all. In challenging serious abuses of State power, many such defenders find themselves behind bars;
FIDH works endlessly to secure the release of these (and other) human rights defenders, mainly through the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – its joint programme with OMCT.A recent summing up by FIDH of their (local affiliate) in
Bahrain,
Belarus,
Iran,
Turkey and
Uzbekistan makes sobering reading:
Check out the steps that led to their detention:
The Bahrain Centre or Human Rights is one the 2012 nominees of the Martin Ennals Award.
- In BELARUS :Ales Bialiatski, President of the Viasna Human Rights Centre and FIDH Vice President
Since his election in 1994, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, has installed an authoritarian regime that represses freedom of expression, assembly and association. The human rights situation in Belarus markedly deteriorated on 19 December 2010 when riot police brutally dispersed demonstrators protesting against the unfair handling of the presidential election. This event marked the beginning of an unprecedented wave of repression, which continues to this day. Prominent human rights defender, Ales Bialiatski was arrested in Minsk on 4 August 2011 and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on trumped up tax evasion charges. He remains in prison to this day.
- In IRAN :Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, founding member of Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) and human rights lawyer
Abdolfattah Soltani, founding member of DHRC and human rights lawyer
Mohammad Seifzadeh, member of the DHRC and human rights lawyer
Nasrin Sotoudeh, member of DHRC and prominent human rights lawyer known for defending juveniles facing death penalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and child victims of abuse; she is lso a 2012 MEA nominee
- In TURKEY :Muharrem Erbey, IHD Vice Chairperson and former Chairperson of Diyarbakır branch
Arslan Özdemir, Executive, IHD Diyarbakır branch
Şerif Süren, Executive, IHD Aydın branch
Orhan Çiçek, Executive, IHD Aydın branch
Reşit Teymur, Executive, IHD Siirt branch
Abdulkadir Çurğatay, Executive, IHD Mardin branch
Veysi Parıltı, Executive, IHD Mardin branch
Şaziye Önder, representative IHD Doğubeyazıt (Ağrı)
Mensur Işık, former Chairperson, IHD Muş branch
Hikmet Tapancı, Executive, IHD Malatya branch
Ali Tanrıverdi, Chairperson IHD Mersin branch
Osman İşçi, IHD General Headquarters (Ankara) former worker and member of IHD
Hanim Koçygit, Executive, IHD Sakarya branch
Bekir Gürbüz, former Chairperson, IHD Adıyaman branch
FIDH notes in this respect: Despite Turkey’s considerable human rights progress since 2000, those expressing ideas on “sensitive” human rights related issues continue to be targeted and criminalised by the public authorities. So-called “sensitive” questions include the promotion of alternative identities to the Turkish mainstream (e.g. asserting the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, especially Kurds, as well as the rights of sexual minorities). It also encompasses any criticism of the State and its institutions, including institutional functioning, judicial independence, and impunity for human rights violations. Members of NGOs, lawyers, trade unionists, journalists, intellectuals, academics, conscientious objectors, the families of victims of serious human rights violations, and others have been targeted by State policies that consider their expression of their views to be a threat. Fourteen members of the Human Rights Association (IHD), a Turkish FIDH member organisation, are currently being held in preventive detention under an anti-terrorism law that criminalises legitimate expression of opinion.
- In UZBEKISTAN :Zafar Rakhimov, member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) Kashkadarya regional branch
Nasim Isakov, member of the HRSU Djizak regional branch
Yuldosh Rasulov, member of the HRSU Kashkadarya regional branch
Azam Formonov, Head of the Sirdarya regional branch of the HRSU
Gaybullo Jalilov, member of the HRSU Karshi regional branch
Uzbekistan has the highest number of human rights defenders serving lengthy prison sentences in Eastern Europe/Central Asia. These sentences are usually served in penal colonies where the regime is extremely strict. Harsh conditions and ill treatment have caused the health of incarcerated defenders to deteriorate quickly. These inhumane and degrading conditions are currently the reality of several members of FIDH member organisation, the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan.
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Tags: Bahrain, Belarus, detention, FIDH, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, International Federation for Human Rights, Iran, MEA, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Turkey, Uzbekistan
October 16, 2012
An “Insignificant State” called “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan” or a highly repressive regime torturing human rights defenders?
Last October(2011), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) launched a new web application to bring attention to human rights defenders still incarcerated in horrific conditions in Uzbek prisons.
US Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain stated on 8 October 2011 “When they ask me who’s the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say, ’You know, I don’t know. Do you know?” Cain added that it was not a priority to know “the head of one of those small, insignificant states around the world”.
FIDH does want people to know. And to care.
At least 10 Uzbek human rights defenders remain in detention under appalling conditions ; several of them are members of FIDH member organisation, the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU).
Nevertheless, Uzbekistan has long been a key US partner, hosting US military bases servicing the Afghan military campaign. Moreover, in 2009 the EU dropped all 2005 sanctions imposed following the Andijan tragedy, despite there being no serious change in Uzbekistan’s human rights record.
On the rare occasions that the international community has sent strong messages on human rights issues these calls have been heard: on the eve of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s last visit to Uzbekistan in December 2010, one human rights defender, Farhad Mukhtarov was released. Again, on 14 October 2011, the member of the HRSU Norboy Kholjigitov was released on parole, after 6 years and 4 months in detention, in advance of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Tashkent on 23 October 2011. I should add that in 2008 the MEA laureate Mutabar Tadjibaeva was released after concerted pressure by EU, US and a large number of NGOs!
Must we wait another 10 years to release all the imprisoned human rights defenders?
Therefore I am repeating the FIDH’s application (in English and Russian) and spread the word about this situation by linking it to my blog. Do the same and go to http://www.fidh.org/2011_UZ
The application details the history of human rights defenders, their wrongful detention, and the general political background influencing their situation.
Uzbekistan : New web application on detained human rights … – FIDH.
Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: FIDH, film, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, MEA, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, Non-governmental organization, political prisoners, Uzbekistan, web application
September 27, 2012
Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has an active human rights defenders programme that is often overlooked. The statement below illustrates the kind of cases that continue to plague parts of Europe.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, submitted to the OSCE information on the threats and obstacles faced by human rights defenders in OSCE Participating States.
In 2011 and 2012, human rights defenders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continued to operate in a difficult, and sometimes hostile environment. The lack of accountability and respect for the rule of law remained acute, particularly in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Uzbekistan. For the full text go to:
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE : Contribution to the 2012 OSCE Human Dimension … – FIDH.
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Tags: Belarus, Central Asia, Europe, FIDH, human rights, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, OSCE, rule of law, Russian Federation, Turkey, Uzbekistan
February 29, 2012
Based on information received today from Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the MEA Laureate of 2008, I share with you the following:
On 22-February, at 13h40 p.m, a well-known religious figure, a former imam from Uzbekistan Obidhon Nazarov was shot in the town of Stromsund, Sweden, where he was settled as a refugee. An unknown person shot him in the head at the entrance of his house when he was going out. The assailant escaped. At the moment, the Swedish police are investigating the crime. The condition of imam Nazaarov remains very critical.
The international human rights organization “Club Des Coeurs Ardents” (“Club Flaming Hearts”) founded by Mutabar and the Centre for political studies “LIGLIS-CENTER” understandably express their suspicion that the Uzbek regime of Karimov has orchestrated the attack.
The message adds the following background: in the period 1990-1996 Obidhon Nazarov was an imam for the capital city mosque “Tuhtaboy”. In 1996 he was unlawfully dismissed from this post and his house near the mosque was taken by the authorities. In 1998, he was forced to flee to Kazakhstan where he was placed under the protection of UNHCR. On 24-May 2004 the eldest son of the imam, Husniddin Nazarov, was kidnapped. Shortly before, Husniddin Nazarov had been questioned by the militia of the city Tashkent. Until today nothing has been heard about or from him.
In the spring of 2006 imam Nazarov was resettled from Kazakhstan to Sweden by UNHCR. But even in Sweden he felt repeatedly forced to change his residence. During 2011, authorities of Uzbekistan requested his extradition but Sweden did not comply and informed the imam himself and uzbek civil society in Sweden about the request.
The authorities of Uzbekistan kept up a constant campaign to discredit the name of O. Nazarov. E.g. in the first half of 2010 a series of video films was shown called “Hunrezlik” (“Bloodshed”), in which the imam is accused of all kind of unlikely crimes. Many of his followers were arrested by the Uzbekistan authorities on trumped-up charges and given long periods of detention.
The imam is considered a protector of the religious freedom in Uzbekistan by his supporters. In 2009 he openly greeted the initiative of US President Obama for the improvement of the USA’s relations with the Muslim world and in 2011, in his sermons, he supported the revolutions in the Arab world as “natural and correct”. However, he condemned the violence, both by the state and by religiously motivated terrorists.
The two organisations end their message with a call for rigorous investigation by the Swedish police and – in view of the catastrophic human rights situation in Uzbekistan – a clear position by the international community.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Club Des Coeurs Ardents, Club Flaming Hearts, human rights, imam, Martin Ennals Award, MEA, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, Nazarov, religious freedom, shooting, Strömsund Municipality, Sweden, Swedish Police Service, Uzbekistan
July 4, 2011
The decision by a French court on July 1, 2011, to dismiss a defamation suit brought by the daughter of Uzbekistan’s president against an online French news agency highlighted Uzbekistan’s repressive approach to criticism, Human Rights Watch said. The Press Court in Paris dismissed the lawsuit brought by Lola Karimova, daughter of President Islam Karimov, against the NGO Rue89. Karimova had sought moral damages for a May 2010 article that called her the daughter of “dictator Karimov,” and alleged she was “whitewashing Uzbekistan’s image” through charity events. Karimova filed the suit in August 2010, seeking €30,000 in damages over an article with the headline, “AIDS: Uzbekistan Cracks Down at Home but Puts on Show at Cannes.
“Uzbekistan is widely known for its atrocious human rights record, including repression of free speech,” said Mihra Rittmann, researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Political figures like Karimova should never be able to abuse defamation laws to silence open and critical debate about government actions.” Uzbek authorities use spurious defamation suits to silence journalists and otherwise threaten and harass them.
The defamation hearing took place on May 19. Two well-known exiled human rights defenders from Uzbekistan testified for the defense. They are Mutabar Tadjibaeva, a former political prisoner and head of the Uzbek human rights group Burning Hearts Club, and Nadejda Atayeva, head of the France-based human rights organization Human Rights in Central Asia. In her testimony, Mutabar gave a detailed description of her repeated ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in Uzbekistan from 2005 to 2008, until she was unexpectedly released and allowed to leave the country as Laureate of the 2008 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
President Karimov’s government has a well-documented record of serious human rights violations, including severe political repression. Torture and ill-treatment are systematic in the criminal justice system. Opposition political parties cannot operate freely in Uzbekistan, and there has not been a single election since Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991 that international observers found to be free or fair. More than a dozen human rights defenders are in prison on fabricated charges. The government severely restricts freedom of expression. In a speech marking Uzbekistan’s Press and Media Day on June 27, Karimov cited the need to strengthen the environment for the media and to develop transparency laws, and noted the growing importance of the internet. Yet in practice, independent journalists are persecuted, detained, and tried on spurious criminal defamation charges that carry the prospect of prison time and huge fines. Websites containing information on sensitive issues or that are critical of the government are routinely blocked within Uzbekistan.
While in Uzbekistan the “authorities have repeatedly convicted journalists in Uzbekistan on spurious defamation charges for nothing more than writing articles perceived to be critical or insulting” (quoted from Rittmann HRW) the Paris’ Press Court was not a (fixed) home match and shows that the independence of the judiciary protects HRDs.
Posted in HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: freedom of expression, MEA, Mutabar, Uzbekistan
May 23, 2011
Human Rights Watch announced last Friday a bit of good news: – Uzbek authorities released the dissident Yusuf Jumaev from prison on May 19, 2011. Jumaev, a civic activist, poet, and prominent government critic, was arrested in 2008 and ill-treated in prison. Jumaev was arrested in the weeks before the December 2007 presidential election after he called for President Islam Karimov to resign. Jumaev had also written poems and staged protests about the Andijan massacre, as well as about government oppression, and the arrest of his son. Jumaev’s release follows an apology he addressed to Karimov in connection with the 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence. Although Jumaev was released, the conviction was not quashed and the government has not given any indication that it intends to ease its campaign to crush its critics, Human Rights Watch said.
“Jumaev’s release is a positive development but it serves as a stark reminder of the many other activists who remain unjustly behind bars and the urgency of securing their release,” Swerdlow of HRW said. “Jumaev’s imprisonment and the ill-treatment he suffered underscore the danger of dissent in Uzbekistan.” At least 13 human rights defenders and numerous political activists and independent journalists remain in prison in Uzbekistan in retaliation for their work or criticism of the government, Human Rights Defenders in prison include: Solijon Abdurakhmanov, Azam Formonov, Nosim Isakov, Gaibullo Jalilov, Alisher Karamatov, Jamshid Karimov, Norboi Kholjigitov, Rasul Khudainasarov, Ganihon Mamatkhanov, Habibulla Okpulatov, Yuldash Rasulov, Dilmurod Saidov, and Akzam Turgunov. Several of them are in serious ill-health and at least seven have suffered torture or ill-treatment in prison.
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Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: detention, Uzbekistan
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 