Uzbekistan: Religious Muslims are facing harsh sentences

In September 2001 the US-State Department has withheld its report on the global situation of religious freedom out of diplomatic consideration. Good terms with prospective partners in the anti-terror coalition were not to be endangered. Especially Uzbekistan had to be spared after the terrible attacks in New York and Washington. Because due to the strategic proximity of two large military airbases to the Afghan border great significance is attached to this central Asian country.

When the Uzbek President Islam Karimow visited Germany this spring, the GfbV launched an urgent appeal to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Johannes Rau and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, not to consolidate relations with Uzbekistan. We argued that concessions were not justified on the grounds that human rights of religious and ethnic minorities were seriously violated. For years the Uzbek government has been fighting an indiscriminate war against all religious Muslims on account of fighting Islamic extremists.

Since 1997 at least 2000 people have been imprisoned just for their religious beliefs. Many of whom have to serve harsh sentences of 15 to 20 years. The number of prisoners awaiting trial is unknown. Especially devout Muslims, who reveal their faith by their clothes, beard and their visit to a mosque, risk their own and their relatives freedom in Uzbekistan. Because liability of the entire family is the order of the day in Uzbekistan in order to extort confessions or get ’wanted persons’ to give themselves up to security staff. Women who wear a headscarf are equally threatened or arbitrarily arrested like Muslim priests, the Imam. Private prayer gatherings as well as religious education in flats or schools present a reason for arrest.

Since 1999 it is customary to arrest and sentence entire groups. Usually one suspect is considered to be the accused person and the others are the alleged witnesses. This, however, does not protect them from being sentenced to long term imprisonment for „knowledge of the matter“ . Torture and severe mistreatment in police custody are the order of the day. Distressing eyewitness reports verify this.

The Uzbek government policy of brutal oppression does in fact encourage supporters to join the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan IMU instead of isolating them. The IMU uses terrorist methods to fight for a strict Islamic state.

Translated by Bärbel Heimansberg