I do not call you to die for the homeland. I call you to live for the homeland. To live for the homeland is not to be afraid of dying for it...
Muhammed SALIH

Family, who did not give its daughter to the Khan of Khorezm

 

Bekpulat Beg   is Salih's the  great grandfather from the sixth generation. At the end of the 18th century, Khan of Khorezm wanted to marry the niece  of Bekbulat Beg. However, the servants  of Bekbulat Beg expelled fiercely the  match-makers of the Khan.

Afretwards the Khan of Khorezm called the Beg and ordered him to apologize for what happened. Yet, Beg did not apologize from the Khan. This made the Khan the very angry; consequently he got the Beg's head off and sent his family they sent into the Karakul the astrakman of today's Bukhara region.

15 to 17 years later another Khan came to Khorezm and family of  Bekpulat Beg returned to Khorezm. He was restituted all his privileges.    

Begjan Beg, grandfather of Mukhammad Salikh from his father side,

was the last Bek  of that dynasty, which is known among people as  "the Bek who did not give his daughter to the  Khan".

In 1924 all his property –the house, the land- was  confiscated. Shortly after Begjan Beg  sending   to a prison in Kogon, ( Samarkand region) and there he was  killed. To it there were only thirty two years...  

Salikhs father  Mademin (Mukhammademin) Beg (1918-1990) refused to attend the Soviet school and then was labeled as the son of  "the enemy of  people". It so remained with two classes formation.

Muhammed Salih's family

When World War II began Mukhammademin Beg  applied to the army and asked to sent to the  front. 

Yet, in 1942 he joined the army and went to war. Being injured during the war, he was given the "Medal for Service", it returned by living.
Muhammad Salikh – the eldest son of Muhammademin Beg-  married. From the first marriage he has three children: his daughter  Nigor, his sons, Jalaliddin and Jamaliddin. From the second marriage   Salikh has a daughter,  Umida and a son,  Temur.

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Jailed Uzbek Dissident Defiant

www.iwpr.net
Saturday, April 10 2003

By Galima Bukharbaeva in Tashkent and Kudrat Babajanov in Urgench (RCA No. 211,18-June-03)

A tall, swarthy man, Muhammad Bekjanov received his hospital visitors gracefully, though his eyes betrayed the misery and pain he has endured over the past four years.

Bekjanov is Uzbekistan's most famous political prisoner, confined to a prison hospital with the tuberculosis he has contracted after spending months on end in damp cellars.

In his first interview since he was jailed in 1999, Bekjanov was defiant in spite of his ill health. He told IWPR he had done nothing to deserve his conviction, and planned to continue working for the political opposition when he gets out.

At first sight Bekjanov, 49, looks haggard and has aged noticeably since his detention, but he is not as thin as other visitors have reported. Since earlier this year he has been in a ward for 40 tuberculosis patients, part of the Tashkent prison hospital which houses 3,000 sick convicts.

The fact that the authorities allowed IWPR to visit Bekjanov was an event in itself. Officials in charge of the penal system in Uzbekistan's interior ministry stressed that it was the result of an ongoing liberalisation of prisons. Before the interview began, the head doctor at the prison hospital, Rustam Umarov, pointed out a sign with Bekjanov's name on it on one of the ward beds, as a way of confirming that he had been allocated one of the better places, on the bottom row of bunks.

Before being hospitalised Bekjanov was in five different jails, where he says torture, ill-treatment and backbreaking forced labour were the norm. He remembers each one only by how much he was beaten and harassed there.

"I don't want to relive in detail how I was tortured," he said. "I will simply say that as a result of beatings, I can't hear in my right ear. In the Jaslyk prison in 2000, I was beaten every day. My leg was broken, I wasn't given treatment, and the bone only grew back together after a year."

He is adamant that he was jailed only for his political activism as a member of Uzbekistan's beleaguered opposition. "My involvement in politics - in the opposition - is the reason why I am here, and why our family has been treated so harshly," he said.

In August 1999, he and his brother Rashid were given jail terms of 15 and 12 years respectively after being convicted of involvement in a series of bombings which rocked government buildings in Tashkent in February that year. A third brother, Kamil Bekjanov, was imprisoned for 10 years for possession of narcotics and weapons at about the same time.

All three convictions were condemned by human rights groups, who said the cases were fabricated in order to punish a fourth brother, leading dissident Muhammad Salih, the leader of the opposition party Erk. Salih, who lives in exile in Norway, was sentenced to 15 years in absentia over the Tashkent bombings. There is little objective evidence to connect any of them with the bombings.

"They were put in jail only because they are Muhammad Salih's brothers," said Mahbuba Kasymova of the Independent Organisation for Human Rights in Uzbekistan.

Salih and his Erk party have been hounded by the Uzbek government ever since he dared to stand against the incumbent Islam Karimov in the 1991 presidential election.

"I know my brother and I can imagine how difficult it is for him because of what has happened to our family," said Muhammad Bekjanov.

In 1994, mounting government harassment forced Salih to flee, and since then he has lived in relative safety in Europe, although even there the Uzbek authorities have pursued him. In 2001, he was arrested on an Interpol warrant while visiting the Czech Republic. The Czech authorities threw the extradition request out, and President Vaclav Havel - a poet and communist-era dissident like Salih - spoke up on his behalf.

"The day he is arrested, we will be wiped off the face of the earth," warned Bekjanov. "But the authorities have not been able to do that yet, since they fear the international reaction. The world acknowledges Salih as a legitimate rival to Karimov."

Bekjanov has another nine years left to serve, after the authorities reduced his sentence by two years. If he survives the tuberculosis and his remaining jail term, he insists that he will return to politics, " There is no democracy in Uzbekistan today… I think that the goals of the democratic Erk party are even more relevant now, and I will continue my political activity when I leave prison."

In the early 1990s Bekjanov worked alongside his more famous brother in Uzbekistan, publishing the Erk party's newspaper. By the time of the Tashkent bombings he had been living in exile in Ukraine for years, and was no longer involved in the opposition.

"In 1995, I published our newspaper in Kiev for six months. Then I stopped and you could say I completely abandoned politics, devoting myself to my small business," he continued.

"I didn't expect this (arrest), even when I heard that the Erk party had been accused of organizing the explosions. If I had been responsible, I would have left Kiev, but I stayed there, and on March 15 (1999) I was arrested and later extradited to Uzbekistan."

While one brother, Rashid, remains in prison, the other, Kamil Bekjanov, was let out under a general amnesty last year. He returned to the northern province of Khorezm where he and his brothers come from, and where he worked as a farmer until his arrest.

Kamil has found it hard to re-adjust to life on the outside. In the four years he spent in prison, the farm fell into disuse as his family sold off livestock so they could visit him and his brothers.

Now in poor health, he is unable to pay for proper medical treatment and hasn't the energy to rebuild the farm business. What makes things worse is the way he has been ostracised for his association with a family of political outcasts, even though he was never involved in politics. Former friends and neighbours fear the consequences of having too much contact with someone branded as a criminal.

"I waited so long for that day, for my return home, but everything has changed so much in the years that have passed. People, especially, have changed. They avoid me, and I constantly sense an unfriendly atmosphere around me," Kamil told IWPR, shaking his head.

"In that sense, the situation in prison is easier. People hate you, but they hate you openly. You don't need to hide or be ashamed of the fact that you're a political prisoner, the brother of Muhammad Salih.

"It's absurd, but I think that in prison I felt better mentally."

Galima Bukharbaeva is IWPR project director for Uzbekistan.
Kudrat Babajanov is a correspondent for RFE/RL in Khorezm.

 

Uzbek Court Sentences Opposition in Absentia

Latest in a Series of Show Trials Condemns Peaceful Opposition Along with Militants

Human Rights Watch today condemned the decision of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan to convict 12 men, nine of whom were tried in absentia, on terrorism and other anti-state charges. The court sentenced exiled opposition leader Muhammad Solih and nine other defendants to lengthy terms on charges of terrorism and other crimes, and sentenced two accused militants to death.

Solih, head of the Erk (Freedom) political party, has been in exile since 1994, when he fled arrest. He was the only genuine independent candidate to challenge Uzbek President Karimov in 1991 presidential elections. Trials in absentia violate international law, which stipulates that a defendant should be present at his own trial.
"Accusing the democratic opposition of violent crimes is a favored tactic of Uzbekistan's authoritarian government," said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "These political show trials are only part of the Uzbek government's appalling human rights record."

State prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for Solih and nine others, but in a rare move the court handed down prison terms of 12 to 20 years instead. Uzbekistan is obligated under its 1999 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union to move toward the abolition of the death penalty and to respect human rights. Nonetheless, the state continues to apply the death penalty and execute an unknown number of men by firing squad each year.

"The E.U. and other states, especially the U.S., need to be sending a clear signal that political show trials are not a substitute for justice," said Ms. Denber.

The two men sentenced to death were Tohir Yuldash, spokesman for the so-called Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and Jumaboi Namangani, the militant group's field commander, neither of whom was present at the trial. Three accused militants present in the dock received sentences ranging from 12 to 16 years. The government of Uzbekistan charged that IMU fighters—who this summer fought in pitched battles against soldiers from the Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan military— were in fact terrorists responsible for 1999 Tashkent


bombings that left 16 dead. The U.S. government placed the IMU on its list of international terrorist groups in September of this year.

In court, the state failed to provide material or sufficient evidence that the IMU or its leadership, which has denied involvement in the bombings, were responsible for terrorist acts in Uzbekistan. It relied instead on confessions and the testimony of convicted prisoners; Uzbek courts are infamous for relying on confessions made under torture in order to convict those on terrorism and other charges.

State-organized hate rallies reportedly took place throughout the country during the trial in order to generate popular support for the charges. Three of Solih's brothers—Komil, Muhammed, and Rashid Bekjonov—are currently serving sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years on politically motivated charges, part of a government program to arrest relatives of those labeled "enemies of the state."

 

Uzbek Opposition Leader's Brother Disappears in Custody

(New York, November 18, 1999)--The younger brother of exiled Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Solih has disappeared while in state custody, Human Rights Watch reported. Solih's brother, Komil Bekjanov, has not been seen nor heard from since July 12. Family members who have searched for news of him for the past four months now fear for his physical safety.

With an election assessment team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Tashkent and world leaders in Istanbul this week for the OSCE summit, Human Rights Watch urges the international community to insist that Uzbekistan comply with the human rights components of its international agreements. Human Rights Watch has independently documented a pattern of police arrest, detention, and harassment of family members of political activists and religious dissidents during the past six months. There is also a wealth of credible evidence that police routinely plant small amounts of narcotics or ammunition on persons whom they arrest for their political or religious affiliation. Bekjanov is serving a ten-year prison sentence after being condemned in a politically motivated trial on fabricated charges of illegal narcotics and weapons possession. Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned that Bekjanov was arrested and tried solely because of his brother's political activity and prominence as head of the political opposition party Erk. "The government of Uzbekistan professes to be preparing for free and fair elections, but at the same time it is locking up the opposition's family members and throwing away the key," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "This is no way to achieve democracy." Authorities reportedly transferred Bekjanov from Urgench prison on July 18, but have failed to give his relatives any information regarding his current location. His relatives' own attempts to locate Bekjanov by going from prison to prison have proven fruitless, as prison authorities as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the regional prosecutor's office refuse to respond to their queries. Solih was the only candidate to run against President Islam Karimov in the presidential elections of 1991. He was forced into exile in 1994, fleeing an arrest on fabricated criminal charges. He has denied the Karimov government's latest allegations that he was one of the organizers of the February 16 bombings in Tashkent. Two of Solih's other brothers, Rashid and Muhammad Bekjanov, were tried and convicted along with four others in August in a politically motivated case that raised alarm in the international community. Although the defendants described the torture police used during interrogation to force them to incriminate themselves, the presiding judge ignored them and the defendants' own exculpatory testimony and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms. Komil Bekjanov (age 47) was first detained by police on February 19, 1999, in Khorezm (western Uzbekistan) where they interrogated him continuously for three days. Questioning reportedly centered exclusively on the activities of his brother Solih. Officers reportedly promised to release Bekjanov and leave him alone if his brother would return to Uzbekistan to take his place. On February 22, police temporarily released Bekjanov only to arrest him again on March 31. This time, they reportedly planted opium and a pistol in his car in order to provide grounds for his arrest. Bekjanov, who worked as a farmer in Khorezm and was not politically active, has denied the charges of weapons and narcotics possession. After a three-day trial which Bekjanov's own lawyer was prevented from attending, on May 31, 1999, presiding judge Azad Karimov condemned Bekjanov to ten years in prison. Uzbek police have arrested family members of independent Islamic leaders, as well as those related to political activists. During the summer, the younger brother, uncle, and brother-in-law of independent imam Obidhon Qori Nazarov were all sent to prison. Abdumalik Nazarov, the imam's youngest brother, was convicted earlier, in April 1998, on allegedly fabricated charges of possession of illegal narcotics. He too has reportedly disappeared in custody and has not been seen since the end of May 1999. Imam Nazarov himself was last seen March 5, 1998.

For Further Information:
In Tashkent, Acacia Shields: +99871-130-61-02
In New York, Rachel Denber: +1-212-216-1266