U.S. sends aid to terror war ally despite abuses By Alex Rodriguez Tribune foreign correspondent August 13, 2002 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0208130256aug13.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsnationworld%2Dhed MOSCOW -- Mustafa Avazov, a devout Muslim and father of four, died inside an Uzbek prison meant solely for violators of Uzbekistan's harsh "extremism" laws that effectively punish the practice of Islam outside the auspices of state-controlled mosques. Some of his skin had been burned off, wounds that doctors said could be inflicted only by holding someone under boiling water. His fingernails were gone. His head had a gaping wound in the back. He died, human-rights workers allege, because he defiantly told prison guards he would continue praying "no matter what they did." Despite pleas for reform from the Bush administration, Uzbekistan has yet to show any signs of ending its notorious record of religious persecution, rights activists say. As evidence, New York-based Human Rights Watch released details last weekend of the deaths of two Muslim men jailed for their adherence to non-state-sanctioned Islam. Uzbek officials, including President Islam Karimov, have defended their tactics as necessary to winning the nation's own war on terrorism. Karimov even acknowledged last fall that his country's dismal rights reputation is at least partly deserved. Earlier this year, a State Department report said the Uzbek government "perceives Islamic activity outside the state-sponsored mosques as an extremist security threat and outlaws it. During the year, the government harassed, arrested and detained--and otherwise mistreated--hundreds of alleged members of such groups." Still, the U.S. has forged a strong alliance with Uzbekistan as it continues the war on terrorism in Central Asia, and the Bush administration has poured hundreds of millions of dollars in aid into the former Soviet republic, despite Karimov's record on human rights. The men cited by Human Rights Watch died sometime this summer in Uzbekistan's infamous Jaslyk prison, a remote labor camp amid the sand flats ringing the Aral Sea, said Matilda Bogner, director of Human Rights Watch's office in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. Before they died, each man had been moved to solitary confinement cells: damp, windowless cubicles kept in complete darkness and used most often for inmates caught praying, Bogner said. Inmates in Jaslyk's solitary confinement cells often are beaten and given reduced food rations, she said. In May, Human Rights Watch workers were told that Avazov, 35, had defied orders from guards to stop praying and was moved to solitary confinement, Bogner said. "He said he would continue praying no matter what they did, that there was no way they could stop him from praying," she said. He died 10 days later, but his body was not turned over to relatives until Thursday, Bogner said. Uzbek authorities ordered Avazov's relatives to not speak to the news media about his death, she said. Less is known about the death of Husnidin Alimov, 34, who died several weeks after being placed in solitary confinement in June. Alimov's young son was able to view the body and told other relatives that it appeared blackened. Alimov's body also was released to relatives Thursday. "We don't have direct evidence of torture, but he was seen by relatives prior to being put in a punishment cell as looking healthy, and he comes out of the punishment cell dead," Bogner said. In the past 15 months, Human Rights Watch has documented 11 cases of people who died under suspicious circumstances while in custody--most involving people charged with practicing their faith outside state-controlled mosques. In the late 1990s, Karimov began clamping down on such Muslims. Though most Uzbeks are Muslim, Karimov argued that the crackdown was needed to stamp out terrorism that used religion as a cover. Indeed, in 1999 and 2000, Karimov's government quelled armed incursions from the militant group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. But the Bush administration and human-rights activists have criticized Karimov for extending the crackdown to non-sanctioned expressions of Islam or any other faith. Under Uzbek law, Islam can only be practiced at state-controlled mosques run by government-appointed imams. Sermons are monitored by the government. Most men do not wear beards for fear of being accused of extremism; most women avoid wearing headscarves for the same reason. Last year, the U.S. did not name Uzbekistan as a "country of concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act, a listing that could have cost Uzbekistan millions in foreign aid, Bogner said. "From what we've documented, it's a country that so flagrantly abuses religious freedom rights that it's impossible to look at this failure to designate Uzbekistan and not think that it was due to political interests in the region," Bogner said. "The U.S. does raise issues of human rights in the region and does make demands on Uzbekistan to improve. But it's not consistent." Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune |