Uzbekistan : Muslims jailed, lawyers, church and Christian former prisoners of conscience threatened
By Mushfig Bayram
6/4/2010 Uzbekistan (Forum 18) – Following a closed trial, Uzbekistan has imposed prison sentences of up to six years and fines on 19 Muslims, Forum 18 News Service has learned. “The case was fabricated,” human rights defender Surat Ikramov complained, stating that the trial was conducted in “flagrant violation” of the Criminal Procedure Code. In a separate trial 10 other prisoners of conscience, who read works by the Muslim theologian Said Nursi, were jailed for between eight years and five years and two months. Lawyers defending three former prisoners of conscience from Tashkent ‘s Protestant Church of Christ have been threatened by the authorities that “they could be stripped of their licenses if they continue to defend these cases.” Similarly, the Religious Affairs Committee has threatened to strip the registered church of legal status if church members continue to complain about the jailings and other human rights violations. Two Protestant former prisoners of conscience in the south have also been threatened by police, and have had to leave their homes. “In one instance one of them was told by a police officer that they will always breathe down their necks, as long as they continue their Christian activity,” Forum 18 was told.
