Front Line is 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.

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Posted 17/04/2008 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.

Front Line has 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.

Front Line believes 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. Front Line is 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.