Front Line welcomes the release of Uzbek human rights defender Gulbahor Turayev. On 12 June 2007, the Andijan Regional Court of Appeal ruled to reduce Gulbahor Turayeva's sentence of six years' imprisonment to a three-year suspended sentence.

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On 25 April 2007, the Andijan Region Court sentenced Gulbahor Turayeva to six-years' imprisonment on charges of slander and the production and distribution of literature threatening the public order. She had been held in a detention centre since her arrest, on 14 January 2007, at the Dustlik checkpoint on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. Apparently Uzbek customs searched her luggage and found books, including materials on human rights and books by the leader of the Uzbek opposition party, Erk.

Front Line welcomes the release of Gulbahor Turayeva but is concerned that although her prison sentence has been suspended and she has been released, her release is conditional and the conviction against her still stands. Front Line believes that Gulbahor Turayeva has been persecuted on the basis of her work in the defence of human rights and her conviction represents an attempt to restrict access to information concerning human rights violations in Uzbekistan.