Uzbekistan

Conditions Improve for Mutabar Tadjibaeva

Front Line is gravely concerned following reports of the deterioration in the health of Mutabar Tadjibaeva, human rights defender and Chairperson of the human rights organisation “Plammenoe Serdtse” (Fiery Hearts Club) in Ferghana city. Mutabar Tajibaeva was arrested on 7 October 2005 and subsequently sentenced to 8 years in prison on 6 March 2006. She is currently being detained at Tashkent Prison. Front Line has previously expressed grave concern at the continued detention of Mutabar Tadjibaeva and her deteriorating health, most recently on 28 March 2007.  

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.  

Mutabar Tadjibaeva founded the Fiery Hearts Club in Uzbekistan to work for women’s rights. She was arrested on her way to Dublin for the Front Line, Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders in 2005 and sentenced to 8 years in prison. <!--break--_

Further Information

Mutabar has been denied medical care and access to her family and lawyers. She has been held in the psychiatric wing of the prison, at times in solitary confinement.

When all our efforts to lobby for her release had failed, we finally decided to try sending a bouquet of flowers to the prison We never thought they would get through. We intended it as a symbolic gesture of support which would show that we had not forgotten her. A letter smuggled from prison told us that incredibly the prison governor gave her the flowers and now she is being treated with more respect.Unfortunately since then her conditions have again deteriorated.

With your help Front Line will continue to campaign for the release of Mutabar Tadjibaeva.

Get back to Protect One Empower a Thousand - Front Line and The Body Shop Campaign

Front Line is deeply concerned following the sentencing, on 3 December 2007, of human rights defender Karim Bozorboyev to six years and three months in prison in the central city of the region of Syrdarya in Uzbekistan. Karim Bozorboyev is a member of the Ezgulik human rights society and a vocal protester against violations of human rights in Uzbekistan. Ezgulik ("Goodness") is one of the very few registered human rights organisations in Uzbekistan.