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The government of Uzbekistan is extending its crackdown against independent Muslims to include women, Human Rights Watch said today.

In the past two weeks, police in Tashkent and the Ferghana Valley have detained dozens of women. Some stand accused of membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a banned Islamic group, and others have relatives who are in jail for their religious affiliations.

"The authorities in Uzbekistan have already detained thousands of men for their affiliation with peaceful Islamic groups," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Now they're rounding up women."

On April 23, police broke up two protests by several dozen women in Tashkent's old city and in Margilan, a city in the Ferghana Valley. The women were protesting the state's harsh actions against independent Muslims. Many were also demanding the release of their male relatives who are serving prison terms for their religious affiliations. In Tashkent, police detained between nine and eighteen women and their children, including babies. Journalists and others who witnessed the incident told Human Rights Watch that officers descended upon the group, herded many of the protesters onto buses, and took them to an undisclosed location. Police disbanded the other demonstrators. In Margilan, police detained at least nine women and dispersed about forty-five others.

Authorities currently require scores of overtly pious Muslim women, particularly those who wear headscarves partially covering their faces, to sign monthly or even weekly statements pledging not to participate in unauthorized meetings or gatherings and not to join any "religious sects." Until recently, however, few women had been arrested.

"We've seen a steady rise in the number of people, particularly women, willing to risk the enormously dangerous move of peacefully voicing their dissent," said Andersen. "The latest round of detentions shows that the government does not intend to relent on the campaign against independent Islam."

Uzbekistan is a predominately Muslim country, where the government closely regulates religion. Some Muslims practice Islam beyond state controls.

The government has intensified its efforts against women who are alleged members of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), an Islamic group that calls for the peaceful reestablishment of the Caliphate in Central Asia. Uzbek authorities routinely prosecute those accused of affiliation with the group on charges of anti-state activities or possession or distribution of "illegal religious materials."

Human Rights Watch observed two recent trials of women charged with Hizb ut-Tahrir membership. The first, involving four women-Aiazimkhon Yakbalkhojaeva, Tursunoi Rashidova, Arofat Khakimova, and Lazokat Avazova-continues this week in Tashkent. According to the defendants, the court failed to give them adequate advance notification of the trial date in which to communicate with legal counsel and prepare a defense, and instead summoned several of them by phone in early April just an hour before the hearing was due to begin. The prosecution gave the defendants a copy of the indictment against them only after several days of trial hearings. The defendants had no prior notification of the charges they faced.

The second trial, also in Tashkent, concluded on April 24 with four women convicted for membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir: Nasiba Uzakova; Nargiza Usmanova; Mukhtabar Omonturdieva; and Fatima Khamroboeva. The women testified that their religious activities consisted of meeting privately for prayer and Islamic study. One of the women testified in court that police beat them or threatened physical violence to coerce confessions and to "punish" them for their activities. Sentences ranged from two years of probation to four years of imprisonment. These are relatively lenient terms in Uzbekistan, where an estimated 7,000 independent Muslims have been sentenced to up to twenty years in prison for their religious beliefs, affiliations, and practices.

The husband of defendant Nasiba Uzakova had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison in 2000, also on charges of Hizb ut-Tahrir membership. At trial, the judge announced that yet another group of women would soon be brought up on religious charges, including one of Uzakova's relatives, Musharraf Usmonova. At the time, Usmonova had been in custody for a week, while police withheld information about her whereabouts.

On the night of April 14, 2002, a group of policemen and close to forty unidentified men in civilian dress had burst into the Usmonov household, searched the premises and, though they found no illicit materials, took Musharraf Usmonova to an undisclosed location. For seven days police refused to inform her relatives of her whereabouts or even confirm that she had been detained. Usmonova's "disappearance" ended on April 22-the day that the judge in the Uzakova case announced Usmonova's upcoming trial-when her lawyer finally learned of her whereabouts.

The authorities continue to deny Usmonova access to her lawyer, and her conditions in custody are not known.

"It's hard to imagine a more dangerous situation for Usmonova," said Andersen. "There's a real threat of torture during pretrial custody in Uzbekistan, particularly when the detainee is held incommunicado."

Five of Musharraf Usmonova's children (ranging in age from four to sixteen) were detained until evening following their participation in the protest on April 23.

Usmonova's family has been devastated by the official crackdown on independent Islam. In June 1999, police detained and tortured to death Usmonova's husband, Farkhod, the son of a well-known imam. Also in June 1999, Usmonova's then seventeen-year-old son was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison for "anti-state activities;" he was later released. Farkhod Usmonov's youngest brother, Muhammadjon, was sentenced to eleven years in prison, for alleged possession of a religious magazine; he was also released. Usmonov's brother Ravkhat was sentenced to fourteen years on a variety of charges related to alleged religious and "anti-state" activity. Usmonova's brothers, Shukrullo and Faizullo Agzamov, were sentenced to seven and seventeen years in prison, respectively. Abdukarim Rashidov, also a relative, was sentenced to eleven years

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