Thousands of people are imprisoned on politically-motivated charges in Uzbekistan including activists, artists, journalists, and religious clerics.  They’re kept in abysmal conditions and forced to endure “unspeakable abuses”, including torture.

The new report from Human Rights Watch says once convicted of trumped-up and nebulous charges such as “anti-constitutional activity”, those targeted by the totalitarian government of President Islam Karimov are locked up for years on end.  And when their sentences are almost up, the prison terms are often extended arbitrarily.  The methods used by Karimov’s goons including beatings, electrical shocks, sexual abuse, and deprivation of food and water – the usual tools of the despot.  The 34 cases detailed in the report are a fraction of the thousands of people tortured and harassed.

One case highlighted in the report is that of prominent journalist Muhammad Bekjanov who has been held since 1999 after being kidnapped from exile in Ukraine.  His family last saw him two years ago, suffering from TB and with most of his teeth missing.

Uzbekistan has seen a series of purges since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union.  Political opponents were eliminated from 1992-1997; persecution of Muslims began after that and continues to this day; as many as 1,500 were killed by government troops in a mysterious political uprising in the city of Andijan in 2005. 

The country is considered nearly on par with North Korea in its suppression of all rights, and locking-out of foreign journalists and NGOs.

“Uzbekistan should immediately and unconditionally release everyone imprisoned on politically motivated charges, stop arbitrarily extending prison sentences and put a stop to torture in prison,” Human Rights Watch says.