KavkazCenter - Uzbek dictator – Washington's reliable partner

Uzbek dictator – Washington's reliable partner

Muslim Uzbekistan edition reported that Uzbekistan will allow the United States to keep military forces here as long as needed for operations in Afghanistan, and would consider a permanent US outpost if Washington wanted one, the Uzbek foreign minister Sadyk Safayev said in an interview Saturday.

Speaking before the visit of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday, Sadyk Safayev also told The Associated Press that Uzbekistan is improving its much-criticized human rights record. He said two people convicted in recent high-profile cases likely would receive amnesty soon.

One of the 'amnestied convicts' imprisoned by an Uzbek court is... a 63-year-old mother of a prisoner who was was tortured to death in Karimov's prison. Fatima Mukadirova, a retiree and a mother of 5, was convicted of anti-constitutional activity and possessing banned leaflets, but her family and activists claim the case was motivated by her efforts to draw attention to her son.

Mrs. Mukadirova's oldest son Muzaffar Avazov, b. 1967, a father of 5 minor children, was arrested in 2000 and charged with the following crimes:

-Article 156 of the Criminal Code: hate crimes - «provoking ethnic, racial or religious hatred»,

-Article 159, «Encroachments on the Constitutional System of the Republic of Uzbekistan»,

-Article 216, «Illegal organization of social unions or religious organizations»,

-Article 242, «Organization of a criminal community»,

-Article 244.1, «Production or spreading of materials containing threat to public safety and social order»,

-Article 244.2, «Creation, leadership and participation in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist or other banned organizations».

According to Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Avazov was sentenced by Tashkent City Court to 20 years in confinement. He has been serving his prison term in KIN 64/71 penitentiary in the town of Jaslik, Karakalpakstan (autonomous republic in Uzbekistan).

On August 8, 2002, the coffin with the dead body of Muzaffar Avazov was delivered to his family. The body had multiple wounds from tortures, and most of the body was covered with burns. Muzaffar Avazov, 35, and his cellmate Husnuddin Alimov died after tortures when boiling water was being poured on them. The eyewitnesses reported that 60-70% of Mr. Avazov's body was covered with burns. Besides, he had a big wound in the back of his head and bruises on his forehead. His fingernails were ripped out.

Mrs. F. Mukadirova's youngest son, Mirzakarim Avazov, b. 1972, a father of one child, was arrested in 2000 and charged with crimes described in Articles 159, 244.1 and 244,2 of Criminal Code of Republic of Uzbekistan. He was sentenced to 16 years in high security penitentiary by Tashkent City Court and is now serving his time in KIN 64/18 Sangorod penitentiary, city of Tashkent.

The examination showed that Mrs. Mukadirova's youngest son was killed by boiling water being poured on him.

...Rumsfeld's visit to Uzbekistan will be his third visit here in two years, where he will meet with Tashkent dictator Islam Karimov before heading for neighboring Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said Saturday. The US has been reiterating about its partnership relations with the Tashkent dictator and defining Uzbekistan as a key staging point for fighting against so-called 'international terrorism'.

At the same time Washington declares similar regimes in the Middle East and in some Islamic countries as being intolerant, and attacks them in order to establish 'freedom and democracy'.

This former Soviet republic went from a largely forgotten backwater to a prominent place in the war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. A US base in the southern town of Khanabad became a key staging point for American operations in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of US troops remain stationed there, and the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2002.While troops continue operations in Afghanistan, «we have an obligation as a member of the anti-terrorist coalition to allow US military forces to use the military infrastructure in Uzbekistan», Safayev said.

Previously, Karimov had ruled out a long-term US military presence, but Safayev said the government will make a decision after the Pentagon completes its assessment of US military deployments.

In a report after a 2002 visit, United Nations envoy Theo van Boven found that torture was systematic in Uzbek prisons. Safayev said Uzbekistan was making improvements, and invited van Boven 'to visit anytime'. Also, Safayev hinted Saturday that pardons would be granted in two cases that have attracted widespread international criticism. He added that «tortures in Uzbekistan are no longer systematic (!), as the UN special report on tortures said earlier»...Department of Cooperation and Mass Media,

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