Uzbek mother who publicised boiling torture of son gets hard labour

[DuctapeFatwa]

The elderly mother of a religious prisoner allegedly boiled to death by Uzbekistan's secret police has been sentenced to six years in a maximum security jail after she made public her son's torture.

Uzbek prison authorities maintain that Mr Avazov died after inmates spilled hot tea on him. But the forensic report said that his teeth had been smashed and his fingernails torn out. His body was covered in burns.

The British ambassador to Tashkent, Craig Murray, last night told the Guardian: "This is appalling. She took photographs of her son's corpse which she gave to the British embassy. The Foreign Office sent them to the University of Glasgow pathology department. Their forensic report said the body had clearly been immersed because of the tide marks around the upper torso." He said that Ms Mukhadirova's continuing campaign seemed to explain why she had been targeted by the authorities. She now had a sentence of hard labour. "The chances of her surviving that are very limited," he said.

Uzbekistan has provided the US and UK with an essential military base for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan, and receives more than $100m (£53m) a year in American aid, for being an ally in the "war on terror". Many believed that No 10 felt that Mr Murray's remarks drew unnecessary attention to the moral flaws in an important logistical alliance.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1146979,00.html

[BayCityProgressive]

1. absolutely disgusting.

[RainDog]

2. More Bush lies

at the very time this story was coming out in the press (about the son), Bush was giving a speech in which he declared that in the past we had made alliances with dictators, but no more (as a rationale for invading Iraq when it was becoming obvious, finally, to those who wanted to believe Bush what those of us who sought out more information had known all along.

Bush lied about the reasons for war in Iraq. He lied about sucking up to dictators.

Uzbekistan is the Iraq of America's future.

It's called Blowback.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Human Rights Watch: U.S. Should Condemn Anti-Muslim Campaign in Uzbekistan

Press release from Human Rights Watch
Dateline New York, Friday February 13

Uzbekistan: U.S. Should Condemn Anti-Muslim Campaign
62-Year-Old Woman Convicted to Hard Labor

The U.S. government should condemn Uzbekistan’s campaign to arrest and torture independent Muslims, Human Rights Watch said today. The Bush administration should designate Uzbekistan as a violator of religious freedom under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act.
“Uzbekistan’s campaign against religious dissidents continues unabated, and it is time for the U.S. to acknowledge that one of its key allies is systematically abusing the rights of Muslims,” said Rachel Denber, Acting Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division.
Uzbekistan has imprisoned more than 6,000 independent Muslims—Muslims who practice their faith outside government-controlled mosques and religious institutions—for the peaceful expression of their religious beliefs. On February 12, a 62-year-old woman in Tashkent was the latest to be convicted. Fatima Mukhadirova was sentenced in a closed court hearing to six years in prison with hard labor for possession of unsanctioned religious literature, membership in a prohibited religious organization, and “attempted encroachment on the constitutional order.”

Read more.

[Greyskye]

4. Incredible

The United States has the ability to do something which is so obviously the correct and ethical things to do; but is too frigging blind to even think about.

If: the U.S. uses all diplomatic/economic means neccessary to stop the persecution of Muslims by the Uzbekistan government;

Then: huge crediblity gain for the U.S. in the eyes of the Muslim world which feels that this is a second Crusade.

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. I don't think the US cares that the rest of the world knows its a crusade

Those who are intended to make money from it are doing so.

[SquireJons]

6. How right you are

The bush administration doesn't care what anyone thinks. All they care about is money. A good example of this is the lock out of British firms in the 'rebuilding' of Iraq. If the US government had any: credibility - no, ethics - no, honor - yeah that's the right word, than we would at least reward the lackeys who helped make it all possible. But nooooooooo, Halliburton and Bechtel wan ALL of the money. Greed is way to much of an understatement here.

I'm reminded of that old Bogart movie - I think it was 'The Treasure of Sierra Madre' where three friends go searching for gold in Mexico, and when they find it, greed takes over and one by one they all kill each other until no one is left alive. I hope shrub is the first to go...

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. kick for the status-quo fans