Tashkent time is - 
11 December 2009
17:03 -
HRW calls on Uzbeks to stop harassing activists
A prominent international rights watchdog Friday pressed the government of authoritarian Uzbekistan to stop hindering the work of local human rights activists.
Human Rights Watch's criticism of the former Soviet nation's rights record comes amid growing efforts by the United States and European countries to boost relations with the diplomatically isolated Central Asian nation.
"Uzbekistan's international partners have been praising the government for human rights improvements, but this praise is wholly undeserved," Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch says Uzbek authorities have routinely prevented activists from meeting the group's researchers.
Earlier this month, Nodir Akhatov, a member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was detained by police officers in the southern town of Karshi and had his mobile phone confiscated as he was on his way to a meeting with a Human Rights Watch researcher, the group said.
The same morning, Human Rights Watch researcher Tanya Lokshina was attacked by an unknown woman as she approached the house of another Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan activist, the statement said.
Lokshina says police later accused her of provoking the altercation.
The following day, Uzbek police detained another activist from the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan, in the eastern city of Margilan, prior to meeting with Lokshina.
"What happened to Lokshina and the people who tried to meet her has frequently been happening to human rights monitors in Uzbekistan, and it shows the government has something to hide," Cartner said. "It is high time Uzbekistan's international partners speak out, loud and clear, to say that this despicable practice must stop."
In November, seven human rights and political activists were detained _ three of them were also beaten _ when they tried to meet with a political opposition leader, Human Rights Watch said.
The Uzbek Foreign Ministry's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
President Islam Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since before the 1991 Soviet collapse. He fell out of favor with the United States and other Western countries after the government's violent suppression of an uprising in the city of Andijan in 2005.
But Karimov has recently sought to mend ties with the West, and the U.S.-led military operations against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan offered an opportunity because NATO allies have been seeking safer transit routes for supplies. // Associated Press
Human Rights Watch's criticism of the former Soviet nation's rights record comes amid growing efforts by the United States and European countries to boost relations with the diplomatically isolated Central Asian nation.
"Uzbekistan's international partners have been praising the government for human rights improvements, but this praise is wholly undeserved," Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch says Uzbek authorities have routinely prevented activists from meeting the group's researchers.
Earlier this month, Nodir Akhatov, a member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was detained by police officers in the southern town of Karshi and had his mobile phone confiscated as he was on his way to a meeting with a Human Rights Watch researcher, the group said.
The same morning, Human Rights Watch researcher Tanya Lokshina was attacked by an unknown woman as she approached the house of another Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan activist, the statement said.
Lokshina says police later accused her of provoking the altercation.
The following day, Uzbek police detained another activist from the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan, in the eastern city of Margilan, prior to meeting with Lokshina.
"What happened to Lokshina and the people who tried to meet her has frequently been happening to human rights monitors in Uzbekistan, and it shows the government has something to hide," Cartner said. "It is high time Uzbekistan's international partners speak out, loud and clear, to say that this despicable practice must stop."
In November, seven human rights and political activists were detained _ three of them were also beaten _ when they tried to meet with a political opposition leader, Human Rights Watch said.
The Uzbek Foreign Ministry's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
President Islam Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since before the 1991 Soviet collapse. He fell out of favor with the United States and other Western countries after the government's violent suppression of an uprising in the city of Andijan in 2005.
But Karimov has recently sought to mend ties with the West, and the U.S.-led military operations against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan offered an opportunity because NATO allies have been seeking safer transit routes for supplies. // Associated Press
