Umida Niazova – Human Rights Defender incarcerated

[Cali]

Hello Eskimos,
I want to appeal to your kindness and ask you to help journalist, translator and human right activist Umida Niazova, who has recently been incarcerated in Uzbekistan. If you can't send a fax to Uzbekistan (must be expensive), you can always send emails and/or contact the Uzbekistan authorities in your country.

AI link

From the AI web site:

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Russian, Uzbek or your own language:

- expressing concern for the safety and well-being of Umida Niazova and calling for guarantees that she will not be tortured or ill-treated in detention and that she will get access to necessary medical attention;

- stating that Amnesty International considers Umida Niazova to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for carrying out her human rights work, and calling for her immediate release;

- urging the authorities to ensure that everyone can peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression in conformity with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Uzbekistan is a State Party;

- reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.


APPEALS TO: (Please note that it can be difficult getting through to fax numbers in Uzbekistan. If a voice answers, repeat "fax" until you hear the signal; otherwise leave your fax machine on auto-redial if possible. Fax machines may be switched off outside office hours – 5 hours ahead of GMT):

President
Islam KARIMOV, Rezidentsia prezidenta, ul. Uzbekistanskaia 43, 700163 Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN
Fax: + 998 71 139 53 25; email: presidents_office@press-service.uz
Salutation: Dear President Karimov

Minister of Internal Affairs
Bakhodir MATLIUBOV, Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del RU, ul. Novruz 1, 700029 Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN
Fax: + 998 71 133 89 34
Salutation: Dear Minister Matliubov

Prosecutor General
Rashidzhon KODIROV
Prokuratura Respubliki Uzbekistan, ul. Gulyamova, 66, 700047 Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN
Fax. + 998 71 133 39 17/ 133 73 68, e-mail: prokuratura@lawyer.com
Salutation: Dear Procurator General

COPIES TO:

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vladimir NOROV, Ministerstvo inostrannikh del RU, Mustakillik pl. 5, 700029 Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN
Fax: +998 71 139 15 17, e-mail: rnews@mfa.uz

and to diplomatic representatives of Uzbekistan accredited to your country.


PLEASE SEND ANY REPLIES FROM THE UZBEKISTAN AUTHORITIES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO THE INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (Eurasia Research and Campaign Team, Amnesty International, I Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, United Kingdom)

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR620012007

Another email: embassy@uzbekistan.org (Embassy of Uzbekistan USA)

Thank you

[audity]

The IFJ called for her release, but that doesn't mean much.

Here's an update:

(New York, April 16, 2007) – Uzbek authorities denied work accreditation to the Tashkent office director of Human Rights Watch, and announced that the trial of Human Rights Watch’s translator Umida Niazova would start this week, Human Rights Watch said today.
The moves are the latest steps in the government’s crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society, and come a month before the European Union is scheduled to decide whether to maintain sanctions on Uzbekistan imposed after the May 2005 massacre in Andijan. The EU Foreign Ministers also meet on April 23, 2007 to consider their strategy more generally towards Central Asia.

“Human Rights Watch is one of the last international organizations left in Uzbekistan, and now the government is trying to silence us,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But we’re determined to stay on and stand by the courageous Uzbek human rights community.”

The trial of Niazova, who is also a human rights defender and independent journalist in her own right, will start on April 19, 2007. Niazova has been indicted on politically-motivated charges of illegal border crossing, smuggling, and distributing material causing public disorder by using financial support from foreign governments (articles 223, part 1; 246, part 1 and 244/1, part 3 v of the Uzbek criminal code), and faces up to 10 years of imprisonment. Some of the charges apparently stem from research materials in her laptop computer, which the authorities confiscated when they initially detained her in December 2006.

In addition to translating written documents for Human Rights Watch, Niazova monitored numerous trials in Uzbekistan together with the Human Rights Watch Tashkent office director. Amnesty International has declared Niazova a prisoner of conscience.

“Like more than a dozen other human rights advocates in Uzbekistan, Umida Niazova is in prison because she has worked to expose abuses in her country,” said Cartner. “The authorities want to stop her work and to scare others from speaking out about the situation.”

Uzbekistan has one of the most repressive governments in the former Soviet region. For years it fostered a hostile and dangerous environment for civil society, and started a concerted move against civil society in the aftermath of the “colored revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. The government came under strong international criticism after killing hundreds of mostly unarmed protesters in Andijan in May 2005.

In the two years since the massacre, the government has unleashed a fierce crackdown on civil society. At least 15 human rights defenders are in prison on politically motivated charges, with two new arrests, including Niazova, since January.

In November 2005, the EU imposed limited sanctions on Uzbekistan, and said their removal would be linked to government cooperation on an independent, international inquiry into Andijan as well as general improvements in the human rights situation. In November 2006, despite the worsening situation in Uzbekistan, the EU weakened the sanctions. The EU is scheduled to decide on May 14, 2007 whether to continue the sanctions, which consist of a visa ban and an arms embargo.

The EU, led by the German presidency, has accepted as “progress” the Uzbek government’s offer to talk about Andijan and to hold a “structured human rights dialogue.” Some EU officials have publicly suggested the sanctions will be lifted, including Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who visited Tashkent last week, in his capacity as chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“The EU should be expecting the Uzbeks to ease up on the crackdown, and instead they throw the book at a human rights defender and want to kick out the Human Rights Watch director,” said Cartner. “That’s not a sign of progress, but it’s a direct result of the EU soft-pedaling on Uzbekistan’s poor record.”

On April 13 the Ministry of Justice handed Human Rights Watch’s Tashkent office director a note saying that it was denying her work accreditation because she had “exceeded her authority” and “worked outside the office charter,” a formulation it has used before to expel staff of international or foreign organizations. It did not explain how she had done so.

The Ministry of Justice said it was not closing the office, although without accredited staff Human Rights Watch cannot legally carry out any work in the country. This move was the latest of many steps the government has taken to make it nearly impossible for Human Rights Watch to operate:

# In April 2006, the Ministry of Justice denied work accreditation to Human Rights Watch’s office assistant, after harassing him and threatening him with criminal charges in 2005.


# For the remainder of 2006 and 2007, the government refused to issue a visa to his replacement, leaving the office with only one professional staff person. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not reply to numerous letters requesting information about the visa. On April 16, Human Rights Watch learned that in late March the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Uzbekistan issued a telex number to the office assistant, enabling her to receive a visa. The number was issued more than nine months after Human Rights Watch submitted the original visa application.


# The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not issue a single visa for Human Rights Watch headquarters staff to visit Uzbekistan. For the past year all visa requests have been pending without reply.


# In April 2006, the Ministry of Justice audited the Human Rights Watch office, concluding that Human Rights Watch’s work was biased and that it operated as a “branch office” rather than as a “representative office.”


# In November 2006, security agents conducted sustained and obvious surveillance of Human Rights Watch’s Tashkent director during office hours, after work, and on weekends.