(New York, November 18, 1999)—About forty women gathered today
outside
the Tashkent mayor's office to protest the illegal arrest and
incarceration of their male family members, Human Rights Watch said
today. It was the first protest of this scale in repressive
Uzbekistan
in nearly two years.
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"We are here today to get our relatives released," one woman told
Human
Rights Watch. Another added, "Our children are in prison, but they
are
not criminals, they are not thieves, they just read ‘namaz' [the
Muslim
five daily prayers]."
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"We are here today to get our relatives released," one woman told
Human
Rights Watch. Another added, "Our children are in prison, but they
are
not criminals, they are not thieves, they just read ‘namaz' [the
Muslim
five daily prayers]."
A busload of police arrived on the scene as the women approached the
entrance to the mayor's office. Approximately 15 officers—including
uniformed police and several soldiers in camouflage surrounded the
women—along with at least six officials from the mayor's office. The
officials refused to grant the women's request for an audience with
the
mayor, advising them to return another day with a written appeal.
After
about 40 minutes of discussion, officials disbanded the demonstration
and escorted the women away from the government building.
Representatives from an international organization who arrived on the
scene as the women were being disbanded reported that plain clothes
officers presumed to be from the National Security Service (SNB,
formerly the KGB) followed several of the women as they descended
into a
nearby metro station. A Human Rights Watch representative who
witnessed
the protest noted that police and officials from the mayor's office
attempted to take down the names of the protesters. They reportedly
succeeded in videotaping all of those gathered. In past years, such
police video recordings of demonstrations have allegedly been used to
locate participants, who were later arrested on charges of anti-state
activity or called in for questioning about their political views.
The women came to appeal to local government officials on behalf of
their relatives, who are religious Muslims arrested during the past
sixth months on allegedly fabricated charges of narcotics and weapons
possession and also for alleged possession of leaflets produced by
the
unregistered Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Regardless of the
justification for their original detention or arrest, the men were
all
charged with violating article 159 of the criminal code (encroachment
upon the constitutional order of the Republic of Uzbekistan). Some
received
prison sentences ranging from eight to ten years.
The situation for those in pre-trial detention appeared particularly
precarious. One woman reported that her husband, detained two months
ago, is still missing in police custody. Others related similar
accounts, and said they were searching desperately for their missing
relatives.
Many of the women complained also of the harsh conditions they are
forced to live under while their husbands, brothers, and sons are in
prison. One 46-year-old woman described the economic hardship
brought
on by the absence of male family members: "My husband died, my son
has
been arrested and now we have two women in the house and four
children.
How can we live? We eat only bread, we don't have meat or butter."
A
50-year-old woman described how police put her under administrative
arrest for 15 days because of her inability to pay rent after her
husband went to prison.
The last known protest of this scale in Tashkent was held in January
1998, when about 100 female relatives of men detained and arrested
because of their religious affiliation gathered outside a Tashkent
police station to demand the immediate release of their male family
members. That protest was dispersed by police, who detained several
of
the women and levied fines against the alleged organizers of the
demonstration.
For more information on Uzbekistan, visit
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/cenasia/uzbekistan.shtml
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