Uzbekistan: Editor Muhammad Bekjanov to serve an additional five years in prison
English PEN is shocked by news that our Honorary Member Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov, held since 1999 on charges widely believed to have been fabricated and whose sentence was due to expire in just a few days, has been served with an additional five year sentence.
We urge all our members and supporters to take action on behalf of Muhammad as decribed below the following press release, which was issued by the Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ) on 26 January 2012 and provides further details of his case:
The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the politically motivated additional sentence handed to Muhammad Bekjanov, the jailed editor of now-defunct opposition newspaper Erk, who has been in prison in Uzbekistan since 1999 on trumped-up charges.
On Tuesday, just days before Bekjanov was due to be released, a district court in the city of Kasan sentenced him to an additional five-year term after charging him with breaking unspecified prison rules. Bekjanov denies the charges and planned to appeal, news reports said. The journalist was imprisoned in 1999 in a strict-regime penal colony in Kasan on charges that included distributing and publishing Erk, a banned newspaper, news reports said.
Bekjanov is one of two journalists who have been jailed longer than any other reporter worldwide, according to CPJ research. The other is Yusuf Ruzimuradov, Bekjanov's colleague at Erk, who was given a 15 year prison term in 1999.
Both journalists were tortured before their 1999 trial began and were jailed in high-security penal colonies for individuals convicted of serious crimes...In a 2003 interview at a prison hospital where he was being treated for tuberculosis, Bekjanov described being beaten and tortured whiled in prison. He suffered a broken leg and hearing loss as a result.
"This is a blatantly politicized new prison term levied against Muhammad Bekjanov, who should not have served even a single day in prison," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "We are appalled by reports of Bekjanov's torture and demand that authorities bring to justice those responsible for his abuse in custody and also release him without delay."
At a January 18 hearing held at the penal colony, Bekjanov's three cell mates testified against him, accusing the journalist of violating a prison order after he argued with them. However, Uznews reports that the inmates appeared nervous in the courtroon, which led the journalist's lawyer to believe that they had been forced to testify against him.
"The authoritarian government of Islam Karimov holds the disgraceful record of one of the top journalist jailers in Eurasia," Ognianova said. "If Uzbekistan is to rejoin the international community, authorities must release all the journalists they are currently holding in retaliation for thier work."
In 2006, Bekjanov's wife, Nina Bekjanova, visited him in prison, and told the independent news website Uznews that the journalist had lost most of his teeth due to repeated beatings in custody. Exiled Uzbek journalists and human rights workers told CPJ they had been unable to obtain information about his condition since. CPJ has also been unable to obtain information from Uzbek authorities on the journalist's condition.
TAKE ACTION
SEND LETTERS OF APPEAL
Please send letters of appeal:
- Protesting the additional sentence served against Muhammad Bekjanov who has already served 13 years in prison on politically motivated charges;
- Calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
Appeal to:
Mr Yuldashev Nigmatilla Tulkinovich
Minister of Justice
5 Saylgokh Str
Tashkent
Republic of Uzbekistan 100047
Email:info@minjust.gov.uz
His Excellency Mr Otabek Akbarov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
41 Holland Park
London
W11 3RP
Fax: 020 7229 7029
Email: otabek21@gmail.com
Please do let us know if you send appeals, and certainly if you receive a response, by emailing writersinprison@englishpen.org
SPREAD THE WORD
- Send this link on to any friends or colleagues that you think may be interested, asking them to take action of behalf of Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov
/writersinprison/wipcnews/uzbekistaneditormuhammadbekjanovtoserveanadditionalfiveyearinprison/
- Write articles and blog pieces about Muhammad's case to help raise awareness here in the UK.
- Use social media to help news of Muhammad's case reach even more people.
- For those of you on Facebook, please share our bulletin with your friends and encourage them to take action.
- For those of you on Twitter, please tweet a message about Muhammad to your followers. You may use to use this shortened link to the bulletin on our website - http://bit.ly/wWBt2x.
[Sample tweet: 'Join me in taking action for Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov http://bit.ly/wWBt2x via @englishpen')
Thank you for your support.
We urge all our members and supporters to take action on behalf of Muhammad as decribed below the following press release, which was issued by the Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ) on 26 January 2012 and provides further details of his case:
The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the politically motivated additional sentence handed to Muhammad Bekjanov, the jailed editor of now-defunct opposition newspaper Erk, who has been in prison in Uzbekistan since 1999 on trumped-up charges.
On Tuesday, just days before Bekjanov was due to be released, a district court in the city of Kasan sentenced him to an additional five-year term after charging him with breaking unspecified prison rules. Bekjanov denies the charges and planned to appeal, news reports said. The journalist was imprisoned in 1999 in a strict-regime penal colony in Kasan on charges that included distributing and publishing Erk, a banned newspaper, news reports said.
Bekjanov is one of two journalists who have been jailed longer than any other reporter worldwide, according to CPJ research. The other is Yusuf Ruzimuradov, Bekjanov's colleague at Erk, who was given a 15 year prison term in 1999.
Both journalists were tortured before their 1999 trial began and were jailed in high-security penal colonies for individuals convicted of serious crimes...In a 2003 interview at a prison hospital where he was being treated for tuberculosis, Bekjanov described being beaten and tortured whiled in prison. He suffered a broken leg and hearing loss as a result.
"This is a blatantly politicized new prison term levied against Muhammad Bekjanov, who should not have served even a single day in prison," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "We are appalled by reports of Bekjanov's torture and demand that authorities bring to justice those responsible for his abuse in custody and also release him without delay."
At a January 18 hearing held at the penal colony, Bekjanov's three cell mates testified against him, accusing the journalist of violating a prison order after he argued with them. However, Uznews reports that the inmates appeared nervous in the courtroon, which led the journalist's lawyer to believe that they had been forced to testify against him.
"The authoritarian government of Islam Karimov holds the disgraceful record of one of the top journalist jailers in Eurasia," Ognianova said. "If Uzbekistan is to rejoin the international community, authorities must release all the journalists they are currently holding in retaliation for thier work."
In 2006, Bekjanov's wife, Nina Bekjanova, visited him in prison, and told the independent news website Uznews that the journalist had lost most of his teeth due to repeated beatings in custody. Exiled Uzbek journalists and human rights workers told CPJ they had been unable to obtain information about his condition since. CPJ has also been unable to obtain information from Uzbek authorities on the journalist's condition.
TAKE ACTION
SEND LETTERS OF APPEAL
Please send letters of appeal:
- Protesting the additional sentence served against Muhammad Bekjanov who has already served 13 years in prison on politically motivated charges;
- Calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
Appeal to:
Mr Yuldashev Nigmatilla Tulkinovich
Minister of Justice
5 Saylgokh Str
Tashkent
Republic of Uzbekistan 100047
Email:info@minjust.gov.uz
His Excellency Mr Otabek Akbarov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
41 Holland Park
London
W11 3RP
Fax: 020 7229 7029
Email: otabek21@gmail.com
Please do let us know if you send appeals, and certainly if you receive a response, by emailing writersinprison@englishpen.org
SPREAD THE WORD
- Send this link on to any friends or colleagues that you think may be interested, asking them to take action of behalf of Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov
/writersinprison/wipcnews/uzbekistaneditormuhammadbekjanovtoserveanadditionalfiveyearinprison/
- Write articles and blog pieces about Muhammad's case to help raise awareness here in the UK.
- Use social media to help news of Muhammad's case reach even more people.
- For those of you on Facebook, please share our bulletin with your friends and encourage them to take action.
- For those of you on Twitter, please tweet a message about Muhammad to your followers. You may use to use this shortened link to the bulletin on our website - http://bit.ly/wWBt2x.
[Sample tweet: 'Join me in taking action for Uzbek editor Muhammad Bekjanov http://bit.ly/wWBt2x via @englishpen')
Thank you for your support.