Uzbek Rights Defender Suffers Intimidation
Uzbek Rights Defender Suffers Intimidation
Human rights activists in Uzbekistan are concerned that what purported to be a random burglary on the home of their colleague Gulshan Karaeva was in fact a pre-planned act of intimidation.
Karaeva, head of the Kashkadarya provincial branch of the Human Rights Association of Uzbekistan, has suffered harassment on previous occasions.
On the night of February 25, a burglar broke into Karaeva’s home, threatened her with a knife and demanded money. He then fled without taking anything.
When Karaeva reported the incident to the police, the burglar came back to her home and offered to give her some items if she agreed to say no more about the incident.
Police later said they had detained the man. Karaeva’s suspicions increased when she was repeatedly called in by police investigators, who pressed her to drop the case. They argued the man deserved a break as he was a recently-released convict with HIV and tuberculosis. “The police appealed for mercy,” she said.
Karaeva believes the burglary was in fact an orchestrated act of intimidation designed to deter her from her human rights work. On several previous occasions she has been placed under house arrest. The day of the parliamentary election at the end of December, for example, police would not let her leave home and tapped her phone.
Her fellow-activist and close colleague Gaibullo Jalilov has been arrested and accused of anti-constitutional activities and religious extremism. At the end of January, he was sentenced to ten years in jail.
“It’s terrifying – the authorities are creating provocations aimed at us,” said Nodir Ahadov, another activist from the Kashkadarya branch of the Human Rights Association. “The local authorities and police are spreading rumours to the effect that we receive substantial sums of money from western countries. Hence, the burglary against Gulshan Karaeva was obviously orchestrated.”
Ahadov recalls a similar case in December, when Tatyana Lokshina from Human Rights Watch’s Moscow office came to Uzbekistan to meet Karaeva and other rights activists. When Lokshina was attacked by a woman in the street near Karaeva’s home, police appeared on the scene promptly. But it was Lokshina whom they took to the police station and subjected to a search.
“They detained her for about four hours,” recalled Ahadov. “They said they weren’t going to let strangers meddle in their affairs. Then they got her a taxi and sent her off to Tashkent.”
Bahodir Namozov, who heads the Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners of Conscience based in Tashkent, says it is now commonplace for human rights activists to be set up by the authorities, but he insists they will not be deterred by this.
“Although the security services are trying to intimidate us, civil society is ready for them,” said Namozov. “We are becoming more vigilant, and we will make all provocations publicly-known.”
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
Karaeva, head of the Kashkadarya provincial branch of the Human Rights Association of Uzbekistan, has suffered harassment on previous occasions.
On the night of February 25, a burglar broke into Karaeva’s home, threatened her with a knife and demanded money. He then fled without taking anything.
When Karaeva reported the incident to the police, the burglar came back to her home and offered to give her some items if she agreed to say no more about the incident.
Police later said they had detained the man. Karaeva’s suspicions increased when she was repeatedly called in by police investigators, who pressed her to drop the case. They argued the man deserved a break as he was a recently-released convict with HIV and tuberculosis. “The police appealed for mercy,” she said.
Karaeva believes the burglary was in fact an orchestrated act of intimidation designed to deter her from her human rights work. On several previous occasions she has been placed under house arrest. The day of the parliamentary election at the end of December, for example, police would not let her leave home and tapped her phone.
Her fellow-activist and close colleague Gaibullo Jalilov has been arrested and accused of anti-constitutional activities and religious extremism. At the end of January, he was sentenced to ten years in jail.
“It’s terrifying – the authorities are creating provocations aimed at us,” said Nodir Ahadov, another activist from the Kashkadarya branch of the Human Rights Association. “The local authorities and police are spreading rumours to the effect that we receive substantial sums of money from western countries. Hence, the burglary against Gulshan Karaeva was obviously orchestrated.”
Ahadov recalls a similar case in December, when Tatyana Lokshina from Human Rights Watch’s Moscow office came to Uzbekistan to meet Karaeva and other rights activists. When Lokshina was attacked by a woman in the street near Karaeva’s home, police appeared on the scene promptly. But it was Lokshina whom they took to the police station and subjected to a search.
“They detained her for about four hours,” recalled Ahadov. “They said they weren’t going to let strangers meddle in their affairs. Then they got her a taxi and sent her off to Tashkent.”
Bahodir Namozov, who heads the Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners of Conscience based in Tashkent, says it is now commonplace for human rights activists to be set up by the authorities, but he insists they will not be deterred by this.
“Although the security services are trying to intimidate us, civil society is ready for them,” said Namozov. “We are becoming more vigilant, and we will make all provocations publicly-known.”
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
