In message from Uzbek jail, journalist hints of abuse

Nataliya Rovenskaya/Europe and Central Asia Consultant News is rare from Uzbek prisons, where authorities are holding at least four independent reporters in retaliation for critical journalism: Muhammad Bekjanov, Yusuf Ruzimuradov, Dilmurod Saiid, and Salidzhon Abdurakhmanov. All four are serving lengthy sentences. Uzbek authorities refuse even to update CPJ or other human rights organizations on the journalists' whereabouts, status, or well-being. When news does come, it's unlikely to be happy, albeit confirmation that one of the journalists is probably alive. Last week, news reports brought word from Saiid, who is serving his 12.5-year term on fabricated extortion charges in a high-security prison colony in central Uzbekistan. Prior to his arrest, Saiid had reported on official abuses against farmers for the independent regional news website Voice of Freedom as well as for a number of local publications. In a January handwritten note that he passed, via his visiting brother, to a local rights activist, Abdurakhmon Tashanov, Saiid revealed some details of his conditions in jail and pleaded for help. Continue reading online.

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