Outspoken British envoy may lose job for denouncing Uzbek torture

[DuctapeFatwa]

The British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, could be facing the sack for his outspoken criticism of the regime in Tashkent which he accuses of widespread torture of opponents, a British newspaper said.

Murray, 43, has been in Britain and on holiday in Europe since late July and was expected to return this week to Tashkent, where he has been Britain's ambassador since August 2002.

But the Guardian newspaper reported that the Foreign Office is considering withdrawing his security clearance, which would effectively remove him from his post.

Murray has been bitterly critical of what he sees as the double standards of the United States which has given tens of millions of dollars to Tashkent as an ally in its war against terror and the provider of a military base for the search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041011/1/3np3r.html