DDHK News - At least 39 Uzbek Muslims died as a result of torture in government prisons throughout 2010. The Independent Human Rights Defenders Group (IHRDG) reported. The government put pressure on Islamic groups and other critics of the government. In 2009, according to IHRGD, it was recorded that 20 people died because of being tortured in prison.
In his report released Thursday (30/12) as quoted The Washington Post, IHRDG said, the figure was based on information from family members of the victims and former detainees. The real figure could be even greater. Many were not reported because family members were afraid of what the authorities would do if they sang to human rights groups.
Prison authorities often return the bodies to the family in sealed coffins to hide evidence of torture. The police forced the family not to carry out the Islamic ritual of the procession of the body by burying the whole coffin.
"They handed over the bodies at midnight, forced the family to bury it at dawn and patrolled the house for several days after the funeral," IHRDG chairman Surat Ikramov told the AP news agency.
Another human rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), said that in 2007 the Uzbek government routinely beat prisoners and tortured them with electric shocks for information. They also commit sexual harassment. Dozens of opposition and human rights activists have been jailed in recent years.
Fearing the spread of Muslim traditions from neighboring Afghanistan, the government of Uzbekistan led by former communist leader Islam Karimov has carried out repressive measures against Muslims who practice outside government-recommended mosques. This action has been going on for years.
Ikramov said the number of Muslims jailed was close to 10. "This number is increasing," he said.
He said in 2010 alone, 370 people, including dozens of women, were arrested on charges of being involved in radical Islamic groups. He said the accused were often tortured before being brought to closed court. In prison, they were again tortured by fellow prisoners, who were deliberately instructed by the authorities.
Not only Muslims, other religious groups, such as Christian Protestants, also face pressure from the government. A number of pastors have been jailed on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims.
Karimov has been in power in this predominantly Muslim country of 28 million since 1991. His government is hostile to the US and Western countries following the brutal crackdown on protest movements in the city of Andijan in 2005 that killed hundreds of people. The government says 187 people were killed and blames Islamic groups for violence. (Mel / Washington Post / Republika). *
