Human Rights Watch: U.S. Should Condemn Anti-Muslim Campaign in Uzbekistan

[Jack Rabbit]

Press release from Human Rights Watch
Dateline New York, Friday February 13

Uzbekistan: U.S. Should Condemn Anti-Muslim Campaign
62-Year-Old Woman Convicted to Hard Labor

The U.S. government should condemn Uzbekistan’s campaign to arrest and torture independent Muslims, Human Rights Watch said today. The Bush administration should designate Uzbekistan as a violator of religious freedom under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act.
“Uzbekistan’s campaign against religious dissidents continues unabated, and it is time for the U.S. to acknowledge that one of its key allies is systematically abusing the rights of Muslims,” said Rachel Denber, Acting Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division.
Uzbekistan has imprisoned more than 6,000 independent Muslims—Muslims who practice their faith outside government-controlled mosques and religious institutions—for the peaceful expression of their religious beliefs. On February 12, a 62-year-old woman in Tashkent was the latest to be convicted. Fatima Mukhadirova was sentenced in a closed court hearing to six years in prison with hard labor for possession of unsanctioned religious literature, membership in a prohibited religious organization, and “attempted encroachment on the constitutional order.”

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There was also some brief discussion in LBN on this story the other day.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. It's easy to see why the Uzbek regime is so popular in Washington

first and foremost cooperation with US business interests, but the crackdown on Muslims who fail to to the line runs a close second!

It is not clear when the US will adopt the practice of boiling people alive.