The government of Uzbekistan should immediately release a human rights defender who has been held in incommunicado detention for one month and is in serious danger of torture or other abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov released today.
Neither legal counsel nor relatives have reportedly been able to see Yuldash Rasulov, a member of the Kashkadaria branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), since several days after his arrest. According to local sources, there are credible indications that Rasulov may have been tortured while in custody. Torture is a widespread practice in police detention in Uzbekistan.
"We are fearful for Rasulov," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "Uzbekistan has a terrible record of torture, and people held in incommunicado detention have a much greater chance of being tortured-and dying from it."
On May 24, police arrested Rasulov in Karshi and brought him to Tashkent, where he is currently under investigation for "religious extremism." Police claim that he was recruiting Islamic militants. The HRSU denies that he was involved in any "extremist" activities. According to HRSU, Rasulov collected information about people whose religious practices and affiliations fall beyond the confines of state-sponsored Islam. He also is known to be a religious man who prays five times a day.
In the letter to President Karimov, Human Rights Watch expressed its concern that Uzbek authorities arrested Yuldash Rasulov in violation of his rights to freedom of belief, expression and association. In the June 21 letter, Human Rights Watch called on the Uzbek government to:
· immediately arrange Rasulov's access to legal counsel of his choice; and
· in the absence of formal criminal charges, immediately release him from detention.
"The Uzbek government continues to arrest and imprison people for their peaceful religious expression," said Andersen. "In this case it looks like they have targeted Rasulov for his defense of these people, or for his own peaceful religious expression."
In the letter to Karimov, Human Rights Watch said that it has have documented a pattern of government harassment of human rights activists in Uzbekistan and called on the government to fulfill its obligations under international law to respect the rights of human rights defenders.
Human Rights Watch has also documented the continuing government crackdown against independent Muslims. People who meet privately to pray or study Islam, who belong to Islamic groups not registered with the government, or who possess Islamic literature not generated by the government are arrested and detained for nothing more than their peaceful expression of their religious beliefs. Local human rights groups estimate that 7,000 independent Muslims are currently in prison in Uzbekistan.
