Wrongful Imprisonment of Independent Civil Society Activists

The government of Uzbekistan is violating human rights overtly by ill treating people for their peaceful expression of religious beliefs.

Human Rights Violations and Unlawful Arrests

Unlawful arrests have become a daily occurrence in the country. People are being arrested for holding private prayer meetings, if they are not associated with any of the Islamic groups registered with the Uzbek government. People who hold possession of Islamic literature that is generated by a non-government organization are also being arresting on the charges of spreading religious extremism. 

Cases Registered

On January 18, 2010, the Kashkadarya Regional Criminal Court of Uzbekistan sentenced four persons named Gaibullo Jalilov, Faizullo Ochilov, Utkir Sodikov, and Yusuf Bobomuradov to 9 years of imprisonment in a closed hearing. They were prosecuted on the basis of their alleged membership in a barred religious organization. They were also charged of distributing material that were against public security as per article 244-1and of anti-constitutional activity as per article 159 of the Uzbek criminal code.

Gaibullo Jalilov is a human rights activist with the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan was abducted on September 5, 2009 by some men, including policemen. He was also forced to sign confession documents and is being ill treated since his detention. He was accused of having said that the Uzbek government has a faulty anti-Islam policy. His lawyer was not provided information about the date of hearing and he could not attend that. According to Jalilov, an unidentified man entered his cell and thrashed him for a long time.

Right to Religious Freedom

Jalilov was working in favor of rights to religious freedom. Before his arrest, he had gathered information about 200 cases involving detention of independent Muslims. His home was frisked for the want of evidence, and there was no evidence at all, which raises uncomfortable questios about the charges framed against him.

There is an urgent need of a fair and thorough investigation of the ill-treatment being meted out to  independent civil society activists in detention.