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TITLE: Uzbek President Frees Jailed Activist |
AUTHOR: Galima Bukharbaeva in Tashkent |
ORG: IWPR |
DATE: January 9, 2001 |
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An Uzbek human rights activist, whose trial and imprisonment in July 1999 sparked an international outcry, has been granted a presidential pardon. Makhbuba Kasymova, 51, a member of the Independent Organisation for Human Rights in Uzbekistan, IOHRU, was released from prison on the eve of the 2001 New Year celebrations. She had served 18 months of a five-year sentence. Kasymova says that President Islam Karimov's special decree came as a complete surprise. "They didn't even let me wait for my relatives to bring me clothes and I went home in my prison uniform," she said. Mikhail Ardzinov, head of the IOHRU, believes the government was pressured into releasing Kasymova by a barrage of appeals from international human rights organisations and the US State Department. In July 1999, Kasymova, a mother of six, received a summons to attend a Tashkent court hearing only to discover that she was the defendant. "I arrived at the court house and they told me that I was to stand trial. A woman I'd never met before informed me that she was my [defence] lawyer," she said. Kasymova was charged with fraud and harbouring a member of a banned religious organisation in her Tashkent home. She argued that the 'dangerous criminal' was in fact a relative from Kokand who had come to the capital to find a job. The trial lasted for just three hours and Kasymova was jailed for five years. "The guards handcuffed me and took me away to Tashkent Prison while my daughter looked on in complete bewilderment," she recalled. Kasymova was expected to be released from prison in September last year under the terms of an amnesty to mark Uzbek Independence Day. However, she claims the prison authorities promptly charged her with two counts of breaking prison regulations and refused to grant parole. "The prison warders know in advance when an amnesty is in the offing and ensure that any person out of favour with the authorities is not released," said Kasymova. Mikhail Ardzinov says Kasymova's arrest was part of the massive police crackdown which followed the Tashkent bomb attacks of February 1999. He believes the Uzbek security forces targeted the IOHRU because it had worked actively on behalf of minority religious organisations outlawed by the state. Ardzinov told IWPR that he himself was beaten up by police officers who burst into his Tashkent flat in June 1999, then took him into custody. The security services also confiscated documents and computer equipment belonging to the IOHRU, none of which have yet been returned. In August, Ismail Adylov, the organisation's third active member, was jailed for six years on charges of sabotage and possessing leaflets belonging to the banned Khizb-ut-Takhrir militant group. Adylov's son later claimed the leaflets were planted in the apartment by the arresting officers. Ardzinov said that Adylov was suffering from a kidney complaint and the IOHRU would continue to campaign for his release and that of other political prisoners. Ardzinov believes there are around 6,000 prisoners in Uzbek jails who have been found guilty of crimes against the state. Of these, at least 4,000 are members of Khizb-ut-Takhrir while others include prominent opponents of the Karimov regime such as the two brothers of Mohammed Salikh (the Erk opposition party leader who has been in exile since 1993) and the writer Mamadali Makhmudov. Ardzinov doubts that Kasymova's release heralds a change in the government's attitude to political prisoners but he added, "We welcome this step and hope that other political prisoners will soon be freed." However, the IOHRU leader acknowledged that the worsening economic situation in the country combined with poor harvests and minimal investment did not bode well for democratic values. "In these conditions, the Uzbek government cannot afford to give free rein to democracy," he explained. "It is concerned the people will discover the true level of corruption in Uzbekistan and the true nature of their own predicament. The resulting unrest could bring down the regime." But he went on to say the authorities had realised that further accusations of human rights abuse could effectively isolate Uzbekistan from the international community. On December 30, Ubaidulla Minbaev, chairman of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan, admitted that the sentences imposed by Uzbek courts were unnecessarily harsh and advocated greater leniency. Galima Bukharbaeva is IWPR Project Editor in Tashkent END |