Amnesty International have put out the following urgent appeal in the case of Ikhtiyor Hamroev. This means a lot to me because Ikhtiyor came out with his father Bakhtiyor to save me from a potentially extremely dangerous situtation when our Land Rover crashed on the ice in minus 30 degrees centigrade (Murder in Samarkand pages 140 to 143). The Hamroev family have suffered five years of continual assaults since.
Torture/health concern/possible prisoner of conscience
UZBEKISTAN
Ikhtior Khamroev (m), aged 22, student
Ikhtior Khamroev, who has been in jail since September 2006, was
reportedly severely beaten on 29 November. Sources inside the
prison have told his father that Ikhtior had also received stab
wounds to the abdomen, but was locked in a punishment cell rather
than taken to hospital. He is believed to have been detained
because of the activities of his father, a prominent human rights
defender, and may have been beaten to punish his father for his
recent anti-government statements.
He is the son of Bakhtior Khamroev, the head of the Dzhizzakh
section of the independent non-registered Human Rights Society of
Uzbekistan. He was detained in August 2006 on a reportedly
fabricated charge of “hooliganism” following a street fight with
other youths. His father has said he was provoked and acted in
self-defence. He was sentenced to three years in prison the
following month, and is now held in a prison camp in the Dzhizzakh
Region village of Chikurgan. He was severely beaten by prison
staff in December 2006 and refused appropriate medical treatment
for his injuries and other health problems. However, following
sustained international pressure his conditions of detention
improved noticeably: he was no longer ill-treated, received
medical treatment when necessary and was allowed regular visits by
his family.
His family were hoping that Ikhtior might be released early under
a December 2007 presidential amnesty, but when his mother visited
him on 29 November he told her that his sentence had been extended
by seven months for alleged “disciplinary offences”. He feared the
authorities would use this as a pretext to disqualify him from the
amnesty.
Sources inside the prison camp told Bakhtior Khamroev when he
visited on 1 December that during the night of 29 November Ikhtior
had been taken by prison guards to a punishment cell where he was
badly beaten, to force him to admit to further disciplinary
offences, which would almost certainly bar him from early release.
According to the same sources Ikhtior stabbed himself in the
abdomen in protest. It is not clear how he would have had a knife.
He was apparently refused appropriate medical treatment, and
locked in a punishment cell. The prison director has refused to
allow his parents to visit him, and has given them no details of
where he is held or his medical condition.
Since Ikhtior has been in prison, Bakhtior Khamroev had been less
outspoken in his criticism of the authorities’ human rights
record, so as not to worsen his son’s treatment. However he did
criticise them publicly at an international conference on human
rights defenders in the Irish capital, Dublin, at the end of
November, and so it is possible that Ikhtior was beaten to punish
his father. Bakhtior Khamroev made his speech just days after the
UN Committee against Torture concluded that torture and impunity
remained routine in Uzbekistan and criticized the authorities for
their harsh treatment of human rights defenders.
Bakhrom Khamroev has told human rights activists that the
authorities have stepped up their surveillance of him and his
family and that all his movements are closely monitored. .
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The situation for human rights defenders in Uzbekistan has
deteriorated during 2007, and the authorities have further
restricted their freedom of speech, assembly and movement in the
run-up to the December presidential elections. In the first four
months of 2007 two human rights defenders and an opposition
political activist were sentenced to long prison terms on what
appeared to be politically-motivated charges. Those human rights
activists not forced into exile and not in detention were
routinely monitored by uniformed or plainclothes police, called in
to their local police stations for questioning, placed under house
arrest or otherwise prevented from attending meetings with foreign
diplomats, or from taking part in peaceful demonstrations. Human
rights defenders reported being threatened by members of the
security forces for carrying out legitimate activities; several
reported being beaten and detained by police or people they
thought were working for the security services.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in Russian, Uzbek, English or your own language:
– expressing concern at reports that Ikhtior Khamroev was severely
beaten on 29 November and that the prison authorities have refused
him the medical treatment he needs;
– urging the authorities to disclose Ikhtior Khamroev’s
whereabouts immediately;
– urging them to ensure that he receives all the medical treatment
he requires and is allowed visits from his family;
– calling on the authorities to promptly investigate the
allegations of ill-treatment and bring those responsible to
justice.
APPEALS TO: (Time difference = GMT + 5 hrs / BST + 4 hrs)
President, Islam KARIMOV
Presidential Residence, ul. Uzbekistanskaya, 43, g. Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 00998 71 139 53 25,
Email: [email protected]
[Salutation: Dear President Karimov]
Head of the Prison Service, Abdukarim SHODIEV
Ministry of Internal Affairs
UZBYM MVD Respubliki Uzbekistan,25, Ferganskoye shosse, 700005 g. Tashkent,UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 00998 71 133 89 34
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
[Salutation: Dear Minister]
PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO: His Excellency Mr Tukhtapulat Riskiev, Embassy of the
Republic of Uzbekistan, 41 Holland Park, London W11 3RP.
Fax: 020 7229 7029
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.uzbekembassy.org
AND, IF POSSIBLE, TO THE FOLLOWING:
Director of prison camp where Ikhtior Khamroev is held
Sobir MINGBAEV
KIN UYa 64/78, p Chimkurgan, Zafarzhan district, Dzhizzakh region,
UZBEKISTAN
[Salutation: Dear Director]
Head of the Dzhizzakh Regional Department of Internal Affairs
Zhaloliddin AKBAEV
ul. Narimanova 30, 708000 g. Dzhizzakh. Dzhizzakh region,
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 00998 72 226 03 02;
[Salutation: Dear Zhaloliddin Akbaev]
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Please do not send appeals after
16 January 2008.
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