Ouzbékistan: condamnation du défenseur des droits humains Yusuf Juma

Your Excellency,

I am deeply concerned following the sentencing of human rights defender Yusuf Juma to five years' imprisonment on 15 April 2008. Yusuf Juma is a prominent writer and pro-democracy activist in Uzbekistan. He was arrested along with his sons, Bobur and Mashrab, in the Tashkent region in mid-December 2007 and he has been detained in the Otbozor Prison in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan.

On 15 April 2008, Yusuf Juma and Bobur Juma were charged with assault and “insulting and resisting representatives of the government”. Yusuf Juma was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and Bobur Juma was given a three-year suspended sentence. Yusuf Juma is to be detained in a high-security prison. Both Yusuf and Bobur Juma pleaded guilty to the charges against them having been reportedly tortured during the interrogations. Bobur Juma named Akbar Rahimov as one of the officers that tortured him and threatened him that if he did not plead guilty his father would be sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Yusuf and Bobur Juma's lawyer, Ruhiddin Kamilov, has similarly claimed that the trial and the investigation that preceded it were conducted unfairly.

I have contacted you on 13 February 2008 and 7 March 2008 in relation to the torture and ill-treatment of Yusuf, Bobur and Mashrab Juma, and the death threats made against their lawyer Ruhiddin Kamilov by Samad Shukurov, the governor of Otbozor Prison.

Yusuf Juma was arrested along with his son Bobur Juma on 22 December 2007 after staging a protest against the arrest of Mashrab Juma, who was reportedly detained on trumped-up charges, in the run-up to the re-election of President Islam Karimov, in an attempt to silence his father. In January 2008 Mashrab Juma was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Yusuf Juma has been openly critical of President Islam Karimov in his writings.

I believe that the sentencing of Yusuf Juma is directly related to his legitimate human rights activities, in particular his work to promote democracy and freedom of expression in Uzbekistan. I am deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Yusuf and Mashrab Juma while in prison and fears that they are being subject to torture and ill-treatment.

I urge the authorities in Uzbekistan to:

1. Grant the immediate and unconditional release of Yusuf and Mashrab Juma, as they are being detained solely on the basis of Yusuf Juma's legitimate non-violent human rights work; 2. Take measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Yusuf and Mashrab Juma while in prison and ensure their freedom from ill-treatment and torture, as is their right under Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

3. Ensure that the treatment of Yusuf and Mashrab Juma adheres to all those conditions set out in the ‘Basic Principles for Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990’;

4. Take measures to ensure that all human rights defenders in Uzbekistan, carrying out their legitimate work in human rights, are able to operate free of restrictions and harassment.

I respectfully remind you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.

I would particularly draw attention to Article 6 which states that: “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (b) As provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms; (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters,” and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”

Yours sincerely,