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Prague, 2001. M.Saliha's arrest under the order of the Uzbek authorities... |
ozbek opposition leader arrested in Prague 29.11.2001 Associated Press, Ankara Karel JANICEK PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Acting on an international warrantr police have tamed an Uzbek opposition leader who came to Prague on invitation of Radio Free Erope/Radio Liberty, his lawyer said Thursday. Miroslava Kohoutova said that Mukhamrnat Salih was ordered held on arrival ednesday at Pragues Ruzyne airport on the 1993 warrant, issued on request of uzbekistan, and that a court was to rule on his extradition to his home country ater Thursday or on Friday. Police spokeswoman Eva Srozova confirmed Salikh was detained Wednesday. She aid he was being held in a police cell but offered no further details. Salikh, head of the opposition Erk Party, was sentenced in absentia last yeaf o 15 1/2 years in prison for alleged involvement in a bombing that killed 16 peop(in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, in 1999. He is currently living in Norway where he was granted political asylum after uthorities ruled that he was in danger of persecution in his home country. ohoutova said Norwegian authorities had already turned down an extradition reques from Uzbekistan. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has received Western praise for opening his irspace and a key air base to U.S. aircraft to help America pursue its campaign in neighboring Afghanistan. But Uzbekistants human rights record has been under criticism, with Western ouritries complaining that the governments broad crackdown against Islamic ctivists is so sweeping that moderate opponents of the regime may be turning to adicalism. New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused authorities of torturing 15 eople in custody to death during the past three years. Diplomats based in Uzbekistan estimate that 5, 000 to 10,000 Uzbeks are in jail for crimes related to political activities. In a telephone call to the Ankara office of The Associated Press, his daughter, Umida Salikh, said the family fears for his life if he is returned to Uzbekistan. If he is extradited he will be killed, we have no doubt about that, she said. Brozova said that Salikh is wanted for in connection with several serious criminal offenses in Uzbekistari, but refused to elaborate. Kohoutova too refused to go into details, citing rules of privacy. RFE spokeswoman Sonia Winter confirmed the station had invited Salikh, but said that to firm date had been set for his visit. His arrival was a surprise for us, ~ Winter said. She said the radio was in frequent contact with Salikh, describing him as a human rights advocate. We interviewed him several times on our programs as a person who has been persecuted and a person who spoke out against violation of human rights in Uzbekistan, Winter said. Czech Republic/Uzbekistan: Fear of forcible deportation/fear of torture, Muhammad SALIH 29.11.2001 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, UA 305/01 Fear of forcible deportation-fear of torture 29 November 2001. CZECH REPUBLIC-UZBEKISTAN Muhammad SALIH, aged 52
Exiled Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Salih was arrested by Czech police when he arrived at Prague airport on 28 November, reportedly at the request of the Uzbek authorities. He may now be forcibly returned to Uzbekistan, where he would be at grave risk of torture. Muhammad Salih has had refugee status in Norway since 1999, and the Czech authorities should allow him to return to Norway, for the Norwegian authorities to decide on any request for extradition. Muhammad Salih is the leader of the banned Erk Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. He had travelled to Prague at the invitation of the Uzbek Service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe. He was detained at passport control at 10am, and the police reportedly did not allow him to use a telephone until 7pm. He called his son and told him that he had been detained at the request of Uzbekistan. A court hearing will take place on 30 November to decide on possible deportation to Uzbekistan. The Czech Republic is a state party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention) and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Both of these prohibit the return of a person to a country or territory where they may face serious human rights violations. There are similar provisions in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. BACKGROUND INFORMATION In February 1999 16 people died in bomb explosions in the centre of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. The Uzbek authorities have used the bomb explosions and other violent incidents to justify a clampdown on individuals and groups they perceive as a threat to their authority and the country's stability. President Karimov blamed Muhammad Salih for the bombings, and state-owned newspapers, radio and TV stations described him as a traitor, a murderer and a terrorist. The Uzbek authorities have accused him of being one of the leaders of an international conspiracy aiming to overthrow the government. In November 2000 the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Muhammad Salih in absentia to 15 and a half years' imprisonment on charges of terrorism and treason in connection with the bombings. Muhammad Salih has always denied the charges and has insisted that they were fabricated by the authorities to punish him for his non-violent opposition activities. Hundreds of people] have reportedly been arrested during the clampdown that followed the explosions, and allegedly ill-treated and tortured. They range from members and suspected supporters of the banned secular political opposition parties and movements Erk and Birlik, to alleged supporters of banned Islamic opposition movements or parties, such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and their relatives, as well as independent human rights monitors. Thousands of devout Muslims and dozens of members or supporters of Erk and Birlik are now serving long prison sentences, convicted after unfair trials of membership of an illegal party, distribution of illegal religious literature and anti-state activities. Muhammad Salih founded Erk in 1990; it was officially registered as Uzbekistan's first opposition political party the following year, and Salih ran for president. Following a clampdown against government opponents Erk was effectively banned in 1993, and Muhammad Salih went into exile soon afterwards. Amnesty International is particularly concerned that Uzbekistan may use the "international fight against terrorism" as an opportunity to further clamp down on the country's internal opposition, with greater impunity than ever before. Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan, is one of the main allies of the US-led coalition in the region. At least 1,000 US ground troops are based at the Khanabad military base in the south of the country. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Czech, English or your own language: -- urging the Czech authorities not to forcibly return Muhammad Salih to Uzbekistan, where he would be in grave danger of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment; -- reminding the authorities that the Czech Republic is a party to the UN Refugee Convention; the United Nations Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; -- reminding the Czech government that Muhammad Salih has been recognized as a refugee in Norway and that he should be returned to Norway for the Norwegian authorities to deal with the extradition request. Update: Further information on UA 305/01 (EUR 71/004/2001, 29 November 2001). Exiled Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Salih was remanded in custody for 40 days by Prague City Court today, while the extradition request from Uzbekistan is being examined. FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please continue appeals as before, in Czech, English or your own language: -- urging the Czech authorities not to forcibly return Muhammad Salih to Uzbekistan, where he would be in grave danger of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment; -- reminding the authorities that the Czech Republic is a party to the UN Refugee Convention; the United Nations Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; -- reminding them that Muhammad Salih has been recognized as a refugee in Norway and that he should be released and returned to Norway for the Norwegian authorities to deal with the extradition request. APPEALS TO: President Vбclav Havel President of the Czech Republic Prazsky Hrad, Praha 1, 11908 CZECH REPUBLIC THE POET MUHAMMAD SALIH, CHAIRMAN OF ERK, THE OPPOSITION DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF UZBEKISTAN, HAS BEEN DETAINED IN PRAGUE
29.11.2001 Vitaly Ponomarev Memorial Human Rights Centre, Moscow
Czech Republic/Uzbekistan - The foreign press service of Erk, the Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, reports that the party's leader, the poet Salay Madaminov (better known by his nom-de-plume, Muhammad Salih), was detained in Prague at about 1000 on 28th November 2001. His detention only became publicly known at about 1900, when Czech police allowed the Uzbek dissident to contact his son by telephone. Salih said that he had been detained at the request of Uzbekistan and that the question of whether he would be extradited would be decided at a court hearing which would be held in three days' time. Sources in Prague today confirmed that Muhammad Salih had been detained after he arrived in the Czech republic from the Netherlands at the invitation of the Uzbek Service of Radio Liberty. It is reported that Salih was detained at passport control as a person wanted by Interpol. Fifty-two year old Muhammad Salih is one of the central figures in the Uzbek political opposition. In 1991 he was the only rival candidate standing in a presidential election against the present head of state, Islam Karimov. As a result of persecution by the security services, Salih was forced to emigrate in 1994. In the years since then he has continued to be politically active abroad. The Uzbek authorities have previously accused Salih of preparing a coup d'etat, of having links to Islamic insurgent groups based in Afghanistan, and of complicity in the acts of terrorism which took place in Tashkent on 16th February 2000. On 17th November 2000 the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan found him guilty (in absentia) under thirteen articles of the Criminal Code, and sentenced him to fifteen and a half years' imprisonment, to be served in a harsh-regime prison camp. Salih himself denies all these accusations. Human rights organisations consider that criminal cases arising out of investigations into cases of terrorism in Uzbekistan are in the main fabricated. Despite this, more than 7,000 people have been given court sentences for anti-state activity in Uzbekistan in the last three years alone. Confessions, which form the basis for prosecution, are frequently obtained through horrific torture. If Salih is extradited to his home country, it is impossible to count on him having a fair trial. Three of his brothers are already in prison on various trumped-up charges. The Memorial Human Rights Centre calls on the Czech authorities to release Salih from detention immediately, and to turn down Uzbekistan's request for his extradition. Uzbek Militant Detained in Prague 29.11.2001 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:43 p.m. ET PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Acting on an international warrant, police have detained an Uzbek opposition leader who came to Prague at the invitation of Radio Free Europe, his lawyer said Thursday. Mukhammat Salikh was held shortly after arriving in the Czech capital on Wednesday, according to his lawyer, Miroslava Kohoutova, who said a court would rule on extradition by the end of the week. Police spokeswoman Eva Brozova confirmed Salikh was being held in a police cell but offered no further details. Brozova said Salikh is wanted by the Uzbeks in connection with several serious criminal offenses there, but refused to elaborate. Uzbekistan accuses him of being an Islamic militant. Salikh, head of the opposition Erk Party, which means Freedom, was sentenced in absentia last year to 15 1/2 years in prison for alleged involvement in a bombing that killed 16 people in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent in 1999. He currently lives in Norway where he was granted political asylum after authorities ruled that he risked persecution if returned to his home country. Kohoutova said Norwegian authorities had already turned down an extradition request from Uzbekistan. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has received Western praise for opening his airspace and a key air base to U.S. aircraft for the war in Afghanistan. But Uzbekistan's human rights record has been under criticism with Western countries complaining that the government's broad crackdown against Islamic activists is so sweeping that moderate opponents of the regime may be turning to radicalism. New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused authorities of torturing 15 people in custody to death during the past three years. Diplomats based in Uzbekistan estimate that 5,000 to 10,000 Uzbeks are in jail for crimes related to political activities. Sonia Winter, a spokeswoman for Radio Free Europe, confirmed the station had invited Salikh, but said that no firm date had been set for his visit. She said the radio was in frequent contact with Salikh, whom she described as a human rights advocate. ``We interviewed him several times on our programs as a person who has been persecuted and a person who spoke out against violation of human rights in Uzbekistan,'' Winter said. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private nonprofit corporation funded by the U.S. Congress and established in 1949 to spread uncensored news to Soviet- controlled countries and to promote democratic values and institutions. Programs are transmitted in 27 languages to 25 countries, including Uzbekistan --- from indymedia web posting --- Salih was invited to Prague by the US nongovernmental broadcasting bureau `Radio Liberty'. Now, he is at the custodial of Interpol in Prague. Muhammad Salih is going to be deported to Uzbekistan under the convoy. Organizations of Human Rights try to have Muhammad Salih free. We please everybody struggling for the democracy in the world to cooperate in getting the leader of democratic opposition of Uzbekistan and poet Muhammad Salih free. Phone of Muhammad Salih's attorney, Murch Koftova, is 004202-22-721-424 Uzbek Opposition Leader Arrested in Prague Dear President Havel, The International League for Human Rights, an international, non-governmental human rights organization with consultative status at the United Nations ECOSOC, is extremely concerned by the arrest of Muhammad Salih, leader of the banned Erk Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. Salih was arrested by Czech police upon his arrival at Prague airport on November 28, 2001, reportedly at the request of the Uzbek authorities. He had traveled to Prague at the invitation of the Uzbek Service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe. The trial which will decide whether or not to extradite Salih to Uzbekistan is said to begin within days. After the Erk Party was registered in 1990, it became one of the leading political forces in Uzbekistan, leading to the decision of its leader, Muhammad Salih, to participate in the presidential elections in 1992. Mindful of the increasing political weight of the party, the Uzbek government banned Erk in 1993, forcing Salih into exile. In February 1999, following the bomb explosions in the center of Tashkent which killed 16 people, the Uzbek authorities unleashed a campaign to clamp down on various groups and individuals allegedly presenting a threat to the country’s stability. In November 2000, the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Muhammad Salih in absentia to 15 and a half years’ imprisonment on charges of organizing the bombings. Since no conclusive evidence of his guilt was presented, it is highly likely that these charges were politically motivated and designed to discredit Salih as a political opponent in the eyes of the Uzbek people. The League fears that Muhammad Salih faces a prospect of bodily harm or even death if extradited to Uzbekistan, the known violator of human rights and freedoms. We call upon you to abide by the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, to which your country is a party and which states that “No State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture,” and release Muhammad Salih to his country of residence, Norway, which has recognized him as a refugee. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We await your response. Sincerely, Catherine Fitzpatrick Executive Director Uzbek Dissident Arrested in Prague, Threatened with Extradition Human Rights Watch
(New York, November 29, 2001) - A prominent Uzbek dissident, Mohammed Solih, was arrested in Prague yesterday for a politically motivated conviction in Uzbekistan and faces extradition, Human Rights Watch said today. Solih had traveled to Prague on an invitation from U.S. Radio Free Europe. Human Rights Watch today called on Czech authorities to refuse Uzbekistan's extradition request, release Solih immediately, and guarantee his security while in the Czech Republic. "This is a matter of life and death for Mr. Solih," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "The Czech government has got to act now to refuse the extradition request and release him." Solih is chairman of the Erk Democratic Party, a political opposition group now banned in Uzbekistan. He was the only genuinely independent candidate to challenge Uzbek President Islam Karimov in the 1991 presidential elections. Following the elections, Uzbek authorities harassed and repeatedly detained him. Fearing arrest on dubious charges, he fled the country. On November 28, Czech police detained Solih at passport control, on an Interpol extradition request placed by Uzbek authorities. He is currently in preliminary custody. Tomorrow the Prague City Court will hold a hearing to determine whether to go forward with extradition proceedings. In November 2000, the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Solih in absentia to a 15-year prison term on charges of terrorism and anti-state activities. Human Rights Watch monitored the trial, and found it reminiscent in all respects of Soviet-era show trials. No material evidence of Solih's guilt was presented. Nine of Solih's co-defendants also received lengthy terms in prison, and two other men, sentenced in absentia in the same trial, were sentenced to death. Uzbekistan continues to execute condemned prisoners. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. Three of Mr. Solih's brothers-Komil, Muhammad, and Rashid Bekjonov-are currently serving sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years on politically motivated charges, reflecting the Uzbek government's program to arrest relatives of those labeled "enemies of the people." According to a human rights activist who served time in prison along with Rashid and Muhammad Bekjonov, the brothers have been subjected to particularly harsh treatment, including repeated torture, by prison authorities. Elizabeth Andersen Executive Director, Europe and Central Asia Division Human Rights Watch Czech police arrest Uzbek opposition leader wanted by Interpol
PRAGUE, Nov 29 (CTK) - The Czech police arrested Salai Madaminov, also known as Muhammad Salih, the leader of Uzbekistan's main opposition democratic Party Erk, at Prague Ruzyne airport on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Iva Knolova told CTK today. According to Knolova, Salih, who arrived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Free Europe radio station, is wanted by Interpol. Salih is currently being held in a police cell in Prague 6. According to agency AP, Salih was sentenced in absentia last year to 15.5 years in prison for an alleged involvement in a bombing that killed 16 people in Tashkent in 1999. Salih now lives in Norway where he gained a political asylum. The RFE invited him to take part in a discussion programme on the situation in Uzbekistan. RFE spokeswoman Sonia Winter said the radio was in frequent contact with Salikh, describing him as a human rights advocate. "We interviewed him several times on our programmes as a person who has been persecuted and a person who spoke out against violation of human rights in Uzbekistan," AP quoted Winter as saying. Winter nevertheless admitted that Salih's arrival in Prague was a surprise as the RFE had not set any firm date for his visit. As soon as RFE learned about Salih's arrest, it contacted his family and the Norwegian Embassy, Winter said. "We were told that it would be dealt with on the highest level and that the Norwegian Ambassador immediately charged himself with the task," Winter said. The embassy secretary told CTK that the office would provide no information. He only said that the embassy did not know the reason for Salih's arrest. He nevertheless added that he believed that the Czech police were acting in harmony with law. He added that the Norwegian ministry wanted to acquire all available information on the case and only after that it would consider developing some diplomatic activities. Erk was established in 1990 as an opposition to Uzbek President Islam Karimov. It was banned in 1993. Its founders originally were members of the opposition group Nationalist Islamic Movement Birlik, whose aim is, among other things, the promotion of Islam. In 1990 some of its members left the group as they wanted democratic reforms and established Erk. UZBEK DISSIDENT ARRESTED IN PRAGUE, FACES EXTRADITION TO UZBEKISTAN
Acting on a warrant issued by Interpol, authorities in the Czech Republic have detained one of Uzbekistan's leading political opposition figures, Mohammed Solih. A court hearing is scheduled for November 30 to determine whether Solih will be extradited to Uzbekistan. Czech police arrested Solih on November 28 as soon as he passed through passport control at Prague Airport. He was visiting the Czech Republic at the invitation of the US-sponsored Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty. An associate of Solih's Czech defense lawyer, Miroslava Kohoutova, told EurasiaNet in a telephone interview that the Uzbek government was responsible for the Interpol arrest warrant. Human Rights Watch, in a statement, called for the immediate release of Solih, who is chairman of the Erk Democratic Party. "This is a matter of life and death for Mr. Solih," said Elizabeth Andersen, the executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. Solih was convicted in abstentia on terrorism-related charges on November 17, 2000, receiving a 15-year prison sentence. He has vigorously denied any connection to terrorist organizations and characterized the verdict as illegal. "We do not expect any justice from this government [of Uzbek President Islam Karimov]," Solih told Iranian radio at the time of his conviction. Solih's trial was connected to a 1999 series of bombings in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. The Uzbek government has portrayed the bombings as an assassination attempt against Karimov, organized by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). IMU leaders Juma Namangani and Tahir Yuldashev were sentenced to death in abstentia at the same November 2000 trial. Namangani was recently reported killed in fighting in Afghanistan. Solih was the only challenger to Karimov during Uzbekistan's 1991 presidential election. Erk was banned in 1992, and Solih went into exile. Since fleeing Uzbekistan, Solih has lived in Turkey and Germany, while continuing to denounce Karimov's administration. "I can only say that Karimov is not in an enviable position because, among Central Asian nations, Uzbekistan is in the worst position [in terms of economic development]," Solih said during a January 2001 interview broadcast by Iranian radio. "I am surprised that people … are not tired of believing in Karimov's lies." Since the 1999 Tashkent bombings, the Uzbek government has carried out a ruthless crackdown against freedom of speech and religious _expression. Officials have justified their actions as necessary to maintain stability in Uzbekistan in the face of an insurgent campaign conducted by the IMU. International human rights groups and governments have criticized Uzbekistan's human rights practices. However, such criticism by governments, including the United States, has become muted since Uzbekistan emerged as a key strategic partner in the anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan. Human rights advocates suggested that Karimov is taking advantage of his new international status to make a move to crush old domestic opponents. According to Human Rights Watch's Acacia Shields, who attended the November 2000 trial, Uzbekistan urged Interpol to detain Solih shortly after his conviction. In recent weeks, Tashkent appears to have repeated its request, Shields told EurasiaNet. "That Interpol acted now … does appear to be very much linked with the international community's interest in anti-terrorism measures," Shields said. "I am appalled that Interpol would act as the henchman of a government that is known to convict people without grounds." Three of Solih's brothers are currently imprisoned in Uzbekistan, serving sentences that range from 10 to 15 years. Solih insists that the charges against his brothers were fabricated and intended to punish him for his political opposition to Karimov's government. "My tragedy, the tragedy of my family and my brothers is only one episode of a greater tragedy [in Uzbekistan]," Solih said in his 2000 radio interview. KARIMOV CRITIC ARRESTED IN PRAGUE IWPR'S REPORTING CENTRAL ASIA, No. 89 Institute for War & Peace Reporting By Galima Bukharbaeva in Tashkent Human rights activists fear the arrest of a prominent Uzbek opposition leader will be ignored by the international community The arrest of a key opposition leader from Uzbekistan in Prague this week has removed one of the biggest thorns in the side of the country's authoritarian president, Islam Karimov. Czech police working with Interpol pounced on Muhammed Solikh on November 28 at the city's airport, where he had arrived to take part in an interview with the Prague-based station Radio Liberty. According to Navfar Kholmatov, Interpol's representative in Tashkent, the agency forwarded Uzbek demands for his deportation. A number of human rights organisations, meanwhile, have called for Solikh to be freed. Solikh, exiled leader of the Uzbek Erk (Freedom) People's Democratic party, was sentenced to 15 and a half years' imprisonment in absentia in November 2000 for a range of heinous offences, including subverting Uzbekistan's constitutional order, plotting the death of the president, terrorism and establishing and taking part in a criminal society. The Uzbek high court said Solikh was behind a series of bomb attacks that rocked Tashkent in February 1999 - in which 16 were killed 120 injured – and had organised an incursion of armed insurgents from Tajikistan from 1999 to 2000 in league with the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, IMU. Erk party supporters and human rights campaigners say Solikh was the victim of a judicial farce aimed at discrediting President Islam Karimov's only serious political rival. After competing against Karimov in the presidential elections of 1991, Solikh was forced to leave Uzbekistan two years later to escape criminal charges. Before his detention in Prague he had been living in Norway where he had sought political asylum. Mikhail Ardzinov, head of the Independent Human Rights Organisation in Uzbekistan, said the arrest raised suspicions that Interpol in Prague had acted at the behest of the Tashkent authorities. He said that if the agency had really been interested in arresting Solikh, they could have done so in Norway, where he lived openly. Human rights organisations say the Uzbek courts never established Solikh's role in the explosions in Tashkent or his participation in any of the other serious crimes he was accused of. They said Solikh, and the leaders of the IMU tried alongside him, Takhir Yuldash and Juma Namangani, were brought before the courts with one aim in mind - to be found guilty so that Tashkent could demand their extradition from the countries where they had sought asylum. Ardzinov said the Uzbek high court was the tool of the government, and that its rulings had never before enjoyed independent or international credibility. "It was clear to everybody that this was just a show trial, which is why in the year since it ended no one even tried to detain Muhammed Solikh," he said. There is no mystery behind Tashkent's determination to see Solikh behind bars. In spite of the fact that he has been out of the country for eight years, he remains a symbol of the secular opposition to Karimov's autocratic style of government and is still a potential rival. At home, the absence of political freedom, of any real opposition or freedom of speech, have prevented the appearance over the last 10 years of any single politician capable of presenting a political platform to the public. Opposition supporters in Uzbekistan fear that the government is using its increasingly close ties with the US to crush political dissent under the guise of prosecuting Islamic terrorists. According to the Moscow-based human rights centre, Memorial, there are more than 7000 political prisoners in Uzbekistan accused of links with illegal religious groups. This year two prominent Uzbeks - human rights activist Shovruk Ruzimuradov and the writer Emin Usman - died in custody. As Tashkent assumes a key position in the American-led campaign against the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan by providing bases for US ground troops on the Afghan border, opposition activists worry that Solikh's arrest will be virtually ignored by the outside world.
The Municipal Court (of Prague) ordered detention for extradition purposes against Uzbek dissident Solich (Salih) PRAGUE/LONDON/OSLO 30. November (CTK) - Today, the Municipal Court of Prague ordered detention for extradition purposes against the Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Solich (=Salih), according to the court's speaker Lubos Vlasбk. The decision to order detention for extradition purposes, however, does not mean, that Solich will be delivered to Uzbekistan, which has requested his delivery. Usbekistan made him search by Interpol for alleged murder and crimes against property. The procurator's office of Prague now will examine in preliminary proceedings, whether Solich's extradition to Uzbekistan is admissible. If it comes to the conclusion, that it is admissible, the Court will decide about his extradition in a public hearing. The Czech police detained Solich, who is searched by Interpol, at the airport in Prague-Ruzyne on Wednesday. Solich fled from Uzbekistan from the dictatorial regime of president Islam Karimov. He now lives in Norway, where he received political asylum two years ago. If Solich is extradited, he might be even in danger of death. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs drew the attention of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the fact that Norway has already rejected his extradition to Uzbekistan three times. Today, the speaker of the Norwegian Ministry, Karsten Klepsvik, told in a telephone conversation from Oslo to CTK: "We follow up the case closely." He added however that the case was completely within the competence of the Czech courts, his office could only supply the necessary documents. The speaker of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ales Pospнsil confirmed that he was in contact with his Norwegian counterparts. The humanitarian organisation Amnesty International (AI) in London released an urgent appeal today, asking Solich to be delivered to Norway. According to AI, he is in danger of being tortured in his home country. The organisation reminded the Czech authorities that the Czech Republic is a part to UN conventions which prohibit their signitaries from returning individuals to countries where they face torture or degrading treatment. The organisation asked the public to send urgent appeals on behalf of Solich to the Czech government as quick as possible. The Russian organisation Memorial, which monitors the observation of human rights, joined the appeal. It called upon the Czech authorities to immediately release Solich and to reject the extradition request. In a declaration sent by Memorial to CTK in Moscow, it was mentioned that the charges brought up by the Uzbek authorities against Salih, are completely unfounded and fabricated. The human rights organisationen Human Rights Watch (HRW), too, called upon the Czech authorities this Thursday to reject Uzbekistan's request to extradite Solich. HRW asked the Czech state to grant for Solich's security during his stay in the Czech Republic. Last year, Solich was sentenced in Uzbekistan in absentia to 15,5 years of imprisonment in a case related to the bomb attack in Tashkent in 1999, when 16 people were killed. Prezident Karimov accused Solich's party Erk and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) of carrying out that attack. IMU is considered to be an ally of Usama bin Ladin's terrorist organisation Al-Kaida, and according to some source, IMU figures on an American list of terrorist organisations. Experts on Uzbekistan consider that Solich as a representative of an organisation banned by Karimov's regime was put on Interpol's list of wanted people under the influence of Karimov himself. Translation from Czech to English: Georg Warning, Konstanz, 30.11.01 City Court imposes ext-adition custody on Uzbek dissident Salikh Zpravodajstvi CTK, Daily News-vseobecnй, anglicky: TAM PRAGUE, Nov 30 (CTK) - The Prague City Court imposed extradition custody on Uzbek opposition party Erk leader Mukhammed Salikh today, court spokesman Lubos Vlasak has told CTK. The deeision however does not mean yet that Salikh will be extradited to Uzbekistan which has asked for it. Uzbekistan has had Salikh sought by Interpol accusing him of a murder and property crime. The Prague State Attomey's Office will now examine in a preliminary procedure whether Salikh's extradition to Uzbekistan is admissible. lf it finds it admissible, the court will decide on his extradition. The Czech police arrested Salikh at Prague Ruzyne airport upon his arrival from Norway on Wednesday. STATE ATTORNEY WANTS SALIKH TO BE TAKEN INTO EXTRADITION CUSTODY PRAGUE. Nov 30 (CTK) - The Prague State Attorney's Office proposed to the Prague City Court today to take Uzbek opposition politician Mukhammed Salikh into extradition eustody, but this does not yet mean that he would be extradited, court spokesman Lubos Viasak has told CTK. Salikh will be interrogated at I 1:00 a.m. and the investigator is expected to issue his verdict around noon. Salikh, who has been sought by Interpol for murder and property erime according to Marcela Kratochvilova, deputy city state attomey, was detained by Czech police at Ruzyne airport. Vlasak said that Czech authorities are obliged to detain any international wanted person. "The extradition custody is imposed to ensure that the person is available to interrogators and the judge. At the moment the eustody is imposed, 'extradition procedure' starts in which it is examined whether extradition to a foreign state is admissible," Vlasak said. lf the state attomey preliminarily concludes that the foreign citizen can be extradited, the final deeision is made by court in a public meeting. The court verdict can be appealed and the Justice Minister can submit the case to the Supreme Court if he doubts the verdict is correct. -more Interiror Minister Stanisalv Gross told CTK today that the police only did their duty when they arrested Salikh. "The police could do nothing else because it would violate the law," Gross said. He added he believed that if the court found out that Salikh's life would be threatened with any danger, "it is possible the court will conclude that the person will not be extradited." lf Salikh, whose true name is Salai Madaminov, chairman of the banned Democratic Party Erk (Freedom), is extradited, his life may be j eporadised. Salikh fled from the dietatorial regime of President Islam Karimov and now lives in Norway where he was granted political asylum. Salikh was senteneed in absentia to 15.5 years in prison in connection with a terrorist attack in Tashkent in 1999 in which 16 people were killed. Karimov accused Erk and the Islamie Movement of Uzbekistan (IDU) of preparation of the attack. IDU is considered an ally of the terrorist organisation Al Qaeada of the world's terrorist number one Osama bin Laden and according to some infonnation it is on the U.S. list of terrorist organisations. Uzbek specialists believe that Salikh, a representative of an organisation outlawed by Karimov's regime, has got on the Interpol wanted persons by doing of Karimov himself Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Czech authorities yesterday to reject Uzbekistan's Salikh extradition request. HRW also asked Czech authorities to ensure Salikh's security during his stay in the Czech Republic. It is a death and life matter for Salikh, Elisabeth Andersen from HRW for Europe and central Asia, said. Salikh arrived in Prague at the invitation of Radio Frce Europe (RFE) and was to take part in its discussion programme on human rights in Uzbekistan.
Salikh wants to ask for asylum in Czech Repubhc RFE/ RL Zpravodajstvi CTK, Daily News-vseobecnй, anglicky: PVR PRAGUE, Nov 30 (CTK) - Uzbek opposition leader Mukhammed Salikh wants to ask for political asylum in the Czech Republie, Sona Winter, the spokeswoman for Radio Free Europe, told CTK today. Salikh was arrested by the Czech police at the instigation of Interpol on Wednesday. Today an extradition custody was imposed on him and he might be extradited to Uzbekistan. "Winter said, referring to Salikh's lawyer Miroslava Kohoutova. According to unofficial infonnation the request for asylum might be a legal method with which Salikh's extradition to Uzbekistan might be prevented. Salikh, arrived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Frce Europe (RFE) radio station with whose Uzbek section he has cooperated for many years. "I can say that we know Mr Salikh for years and he has o:ften featured in our programmes and he is an advocate of human rights. We hope the situation will be resolved soon," she added. -more Uzbekistan has asked for Salikh's extradition. The court decision made today docs not mean that this will really happen. The case is yet to be reexamined by the state attorney's office and a final decision would be made by a court. The Czech Centre of the International PEN club has asked for Salikh's immediate release, apology from the relevant authorities and his protection against possible attacks. "Salikh is an important and renowned poet and writer. He is equally, if not more known, as a human rights advocate," PEN club's chainnan Jiri Stransky said. The whole affair is "disgusting, humiliating and hartnful," PEN club wrote in its statement. Salikh heads Uzbekistan's main opposition democratic Party Erk which was outlawed as extremist by Uzbek President Islam Karimov some time ago. Karimov accused Erk of co-assisting to a terrorist bombing in Tashkent in 1999. However, neither Salikh nor his Erk party figure on the list of terrorists which is available on the U.S. government Intemet site. Salikh arrived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Free Europe (RFE) station with whose Uzbek section he has cooperated for many years. Many international human rights watehdog organisations have already called on the Czech Republic to refuse Tashkent's request for Salikh's extradition. lf extradited, Salikh might face death penalty.
Salikh asks for political asylum in Czech Republic – lawyer Zpravodajstvi CTK, anglicky: TAM PRAGUE, 11.30 Uzbek dissident Mukhammed Salikh, currently detained in Prague on Interpol's initiativet has asked for political asylum in the Czech Republic, Salikh's lawyer Miroslava Kohoutova told CTK today. She however deelined to diselose the reason for the applieation, saying that it was a part of Salikh's defenec in court. Salikh, arrested by Czech police inprague Ruzyne airport on Wednesday, was taken to custody in Prague Panl<:rac prison today. According to Kohoutova, original documents on Salikh's alleged criminal activities in Uzbekistan must arrive from Uzbekistan within 40 days. Uniess they come by that time, Salikh will be released on the 41 st day. lf they come, the state attomey will deeide on whether Salikh's extradition to Uzbekistan is admissible, Kohoutova said. The possible extradition wouid be deeided on by a court. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman told CTK that Salikh had been granted political asylum in Norway two years ago. Kohoutova confirmed this information quoting a letter sent to her by deputy director for relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. According to the letter, Salikh arrived in Norway from Turkey in April 1999. At the request of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Norway he obtained political asylum and Norwegian travel documents. He has been living in Norway since then, the letter says. ~ However, according to Interpol, which had amounced an international search for Salikh on the basis of a request from Uzbekistan, Salikh is just waiting for asylum in Norway. Salikh heads Uzbekistan's main opposition demoeratie Party Erk which was outlawed as extremist by Uzbek President Islam Karimov some time ago. Karimov accused Erk of co-assisting to a terrorist bombing in Tashkent in 1999. However, neither Salikh nor his Erk party figure on the list of terrorists which is available on the U.S. government Intemet site. Salikh anived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Frce Europe (RFE) station with whose Uzbek section he has cooperated for many years. Many international human rights watchdog organisations have already called on the Czech Republic to refuse Tashkent's request for Salikh's extradition. lf extradited, Salikh might face death penalty. Havel monitors Uzbek's case, not to intervene for the time being RTJ PRAGUE, (CTK) - President Vaclav Havel is interested in the case of Uzbek dissident Mukhammed Salikh who was arrested on his arrival in Prague by the Czech police at Interpol's initiativet Havel's spokesman Ladislav Spacek told CTK today. "We're in contact with the relevant bodies and the president has been very thoroughly infonned about the case," Spacek said. He said it was not necessary for the president to internere in the case in its current stase. "As soon as he feels that he couid play an important role in this respect, he will definitely make it elear," Spacek said. Salikh, whose real name is Salay Madaminov, heads Uzbekistan's main opposition democratic Party Erk. He arrived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Frce Europe (RFE) radio station with whose Uzbek section he has cooperated for many years. Havel, too, used to cooperate with the RFE, then seated in Munich, as anti-communist dissident in the foriner Czechoslovakia. Salikh is wanted by Interpol. According to agency AP, he was sentenced in absentia last year to 15.5 years in prison for an alleged involvement in a bombing that killed 16 people in Tashkent in 1999. Salikh now lives in Norway where he obtained political asylum. Experts believe that Salikh, whose party Erk has been outlawed by Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has been pushed through onto the Interpol list of wanted persons by Karimov himself. Many international human rights watchdog organisations have already called on the Czech Republic to refuse Uzbekistan's request for Salikh's extradition. The RFE invited Salikh to take part in a diseussion programme on the situation in Uzbekistan. RFE spokeswoman Sonia Winter deseribed him as a human rights advocate. The Prague City Court today imposed extradition custody on Salikh which, however, does not mean that he would be extradited to Uzbekistan. The Prague State Attomey's Office will inquire into whether his extradition is admissible. Salikh fled from the dictatorial regime of President Islam Karimov and now lives in Norway where he was granted political asylum. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry told the Czeeh F c gn Ministry on Thursday that Norway had already refased to extradite Salikh to ekistan three times. The Norgewian ministry also said it was monitoring case closely. The Amnesty International humanitarian organis made an urgent request in London today that Salikh be extradited to Norway. According to Amnesty, Salikh faces torture in his homeland. The organisation reminded to Czech authorities that the Czech Republie was a member of U.N. conventions which ban to extradite people to countries where they could face torture or bad treatment. Amnestry asked the public to send urgent petitions for Salikh to the Czech government immediately. The Russian organisation Memorial, which monitors the observation of human rights, has joined Amnesty, calling on Czech authorities to imrnediately release Salikh and reject the Uzbek demand to extradite him. A statement Memorial sent to CTK in Moscow says that the accusations of Salikh by Uzbek authorities are unjustified and fabricated. Human Rights Watch (HRW), too, called on Czech authorities yesterday to rejeet Uzbekistan's Salikh extradition request. HRW also asked Czech authorities to ensure Salikh's seeurity during his stay in the Czeeh Republie. Salikh was sentenced in absentia to 15.5 years in prison in connection with a terrorist attack in Tashkent in 1999 in which 16 people were killed. Karimov accused Salikh's Erk and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IDU) of preparation of the attack. IDU is considered an ally of the terrorist organisation Al Qaeada of the world's terrorist number one Osatna bin Laden and according to some infomlation it is on the U.S. list of terrorist organisations. Uzbek specialists believe that Salikh, a representative of an organisation outlawed by Karimov's regime, has got on the Interpol wanted persons by doing of Karimov himself. Salikh arrived in Prague at the invitation of Radio Free Europe (RFE) and was to take part in its discussion programme on human rights in Uzbekistan. RFE warned yesterday that if Salikh was extradited to Uzbekistan, he would face death there. Interpol says Salikh seeking asylum, Oslo says he has obtained it PRAGUE, Nov 30 (CTK) - Interpol insists that the Uzbek dissident Mukhammed Salikh, currently detained in Prague on Interpol's initiative, is seeking Norwegian asylum, but the Oslo Foreign Ministry asserts he obtained the asylum two years ago. According to Interpol, Salikh is only waiting for whether Norway will decide on his asylum request, Danica Hrabalova from the Czech Police Presidium told CTK today. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Karsten Klepsvik, however, told CTK today that Norway had granted asylum to Salikh two years ago. Hrabalova said this information discrepancy did not crucially affect the current situation of Salikh. "The police are not interested in what Salikh is like. We find it important that a warrant for his arrest has been issued," she said. Asked to explain why Salikh had been arrested by the Prague police on his arrival at Prague's Ruzyne aiport on Wednesday and not by the Dutch police on his departure from Amsterdam, Hrabalova pointed to the Schengen Treaty. "The countries bound by the Schengen Treaty must not extradite a person who is registered as an asylum seeker. The international arrest warrant becomes effective as soon as he/she crosses the [Schengen] border," Hrabalova said. Deputy Prague State Attorney Marcela Kratochvilova said her office had obtained the City Court's decision to impose an extradition custody on Salikh. The state attorney is to inquire into whether Salikh's extradition is admissible. Among others he will check whether Salikh has applied for asylum in any country or whether he already enjoys a refugee status. The inquiry can take two to three months, Kratochvilova said. The extradition of Salikh, whose real name is Salay Madaminov, has been requested by Uzbekistan. Salikh heads Uzbekistan's main opposition democratic Party Erk which was outlawed as extremist by Uzbek President Islam Karimov some time ago. Karimov accused Erk of co-assisting to a terrorist bombing in Tashkent in 1999. However, neither Salikh nor his Erk party figure on the list of terrorists which is available on the U.S. government Internet site. Salikh arrived in Prague on the invitation of the Radio Free Europe (RFE) station with whose Uzbek section he has cooperated for many years.Many international human rights watchdog organisations have already called on the Czech Republic to refuse Tashkent's request for Salikh's extradition. If extradited, Salikh might face death penalty.
City Court imposes extradition custody on Uzbek dissident Salikh PRAGUE, Nov 30 (CTK) - The Prague City Court imposed extradition custody on Uzbek opposition party Erk leader Mukhammed Salikh today, court spokesman Lubos Vlasak has told CTK. The decision however does not mean yet that Salikh will be extradited to Uzbekistan which has asked for it. Uzbekistan has had Salikh sought by Interpol accusing him of a murder and property crime. The Prague State Attorney's Office will now examine in a preliminary procedure whether Salikh's extradition to Uzbekistan is admissible. If it finds it admissible, the court will decide on his extradition. The Czech police arrested Salikh at Prague Ruzyne airport upon his arrival from Norway on Wednesday. Salikh fled from the dictatorial regime of President Islam Karimov and now lives in Norway where he was granted political asylum. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry told the Czech Foreign Ministry on Thursday that Norway had already refused to extradite Salikh to Uzbekistan three times. The Norgewian ministry also said it was monitoring the case closely. The Amnesty International humanitarian organisation made an urgent request in London today that Salikh be extradited to Norway. According to Amnesty, Salikh faces torture in his homeland. The organisation reminded to Czech authorities that the Czech Republic was a member of U.N. conventions which ban to extradite people to countries where they could face torture or bad treatment. Amnestry asked the public to send urgent petitions for Salikh to the Czech government immediately. The Russian organisation Memorial, which monitors the observation of human rights, has joined Amnesty, calling on Czech authorities to immediately release Salikh and reject the Uzbek demand to extradite him. A statement Memorial sent to CTK in Moscow says that the accusations of Salikh by Uzbek authorities are unjustified and fabricated. Human Rights Watch (HRW), too, called on Czech authorities yesterday to reject Uzbekistan's Salikh extradition request. HRW also asked Czech authorities to ensure Salikh's security during his stay in the Czech Republic. Salikh was sentenced in absentia to 15.5 years in prison in connection with a terrorist attack in Tashkent in 1999 in which 16 people were killed. Karimov accused Salikh's Erk and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IDU) of preparation of the attack. IDU is considered an ally of the terrorist organisation Al Qaeada of the world's terrorist number one Osama bin Laden and according to some information it is on the U.S. list of terrorist organisations. Uzbek specialists believe that Salikh, a representative of an organisation outlawed by Karimov's regime, has got on the Interpol wanted persons by doing of Karimov himself. Salikh arrived in Prague at the invitation of Radio Free Europe (RFE) and was to take part in its discussion programme on human rights in Uzbekistan. RFE warned yesterday that if Salikh was extradited to Uzbekistan, he would face death there.
Press communication Bureau of Bart Staes Bart, Member of European Paliament and President of European Parlement delegation for Central-Asia Democratic Uzbek opposition LEADER arrested in Prague (Brussels - 30/11/01) Member of European Parliament Bart Staes (spirit) resisted firmly against the arrest of Muhammed Salih. Wednesday afternoon Mr. Muhammed Salih, Chairman of the Uzbekistan ERK (Democratic freedom party ) apprehended on the airport of Prague. Two days before (Monday 26 November last.) mr. Bart Staes, President of Ep-delegation for Central-Asia, had a meeting with Salih. Salih is a Recognised refugee in Norway, during this conversation Salih attacked , the authoritarian regime in his homeland Uzbekistan. The regime of president Karimov eliminates each form of opposition. Not only violent opposition, but also hundreds of memners of democratic opposition parties are in the jail. Under them also three brothers of Salih. Salih was arrested Wednesday in Prague on the basis of an adjournment command of the Uzbek authorities.His Return to Uzbekistan means a long stay in the jail for him with a particular risk on torment. Staes ask thus that cadidate-EU-member Czechia, refuses Uzbek claims. Today Salihs business come for the court. If those decides that future research is necessary, than Salih will at least remain 40 days in detention. Salihs release is in more than a respect urgent. In the first place because he is an acknowledged political refugee But less important that is that regime of president Karimov by its support to the international coalition against terreur has de facto a permit to do in his own country and to leave what it wants. So there is a real danger for his life.
Czechs Urged Not to Return Opposition Leader to Uzbekistan New York Times By Peter S. GREEN RAGUE, Nov. 30 - International human rights advocates urged Czech authorities today not to extradite the leader of Uzbekistan's democratic opposition, saying he could be killed if he was forced to return to his homeland. Mohammed Salikh, leader of the Erk, or Freedom, Party in Uzbekistan, was arrested Wednesday evening on an international warrant when he arrived at the Prague airport intending to visit the headquarters of Radio Free Europe. Today a court ordered him held for 40 days while it considered an extradition request from Uzbekistan. Mr. Salikh fled his homeland in 1993 after losing the first post-Communist presidential election to the former Communist party chief and current president, Islam Karimov. Mr. Salikh, who is also considered his country's foremost poet, was convicted in November of last year and sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison on charges of being involved in a bombing that killed 16 people the preceding February in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. His arrest has stirred strong controversy in Prague, where memory of Communist repression remains strong. President Vaclav Havel, himself a writer who spent five years in Communist jails for advocating democracy, was said by his spokesman to be taking a strong interest in the case. Elizabeth Anderson, executive director for Europe and Central Asia for Human Rights Watch in the United States, denounced the 1999 trial of Mr. Salikh as "a show trial of the kind we remember from the old Soviet days" and said his life now "hangs in the balance." "If he returns to Uzbekistan, he risks detention and death by torture," she said. "Mohammed Salikh is the only real opposition leader in Uzbek politics. That is why the regime has been hunting for him since 1993," said Zamira Echanova, a journalist with Radio Free Europe's Uzbek service in Prague. The Czech interior minister, Stanislav Gross, said the police had no choice but to act on the international arrest warrant. If Mr. Salikh's life or health would be threatened by returning to Uzbekistan, the courts would "probably not" extradite him, Mr. Gross said. Mr. Salikh had been living in Norway, which granted him political asylum and thus ignored the international arrest warrant. Jean-Claude Concolato, the Prague representative of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said that under the 1951 Geneva Convention, Mr. Salikh could not be deported if he was likely to face torture or imprisonment for his beliefs. In this year's edition of the State Department's annual human rights report, Uzbekistan is called "an authoritarian state with limited civil rights." Mr. Karimov stole the 1991 election, it adds, which "most observers considered neither free nor fair." Since the United States began its offensive against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan, has become a new strategic ally of the United States. There is virtually no legal opposition to Mr. Karimov's government. But it faces a threat from the armed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which was based in Afghanistan and with which President Karimov has tried to link Mr. Salikh. Mr. Salikh's supporters say he has been living in exile, and deny any connection to the Afghanistan-based insurgents.
“Dear President Havel…” Dear President Havel I am a US citizen and an independent journalist working for the Independent Media Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). I recently wrote an article about human rights abuses in Uzbekistan. Muhammad Salih is the exiled leader of the Erk Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and was once offered the position as vice president by current president Karimov who has not relinquished power since the Soviet Union fell more than a decade ago. Karimov, hungry to keep his hold on power, has wrongly accused Erk Party members and Salih of Islamic extremism and terrorism. After Muhammad Salih fled the country, Karimov had his children and brothers arrested and sent to prison camps where they remain to this day, after years of imprisonment. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have issued reports of the torture inflicted on prisoners in Uzbek detention. If you allow Muhammad Salih to be deported to Uzbekistan, he will surely also face torture or possibly death. President Karimov himself reportedly tried to hire an assasin to murder Salih while he was in exile (the assassin went public with the story). This because Salih enjoyed the popular support of the people and because in the one election that was almost free in the country, Salih was leading for election as president (before Karimov changed the results - watchdog agencies agree that the election turned out unfairly in Karimov's favor). Repression of political opposition and religious freedom is exactly what fuels terrorism and extremism. Salih and Erk are Uzbekistan's hope for a free, democratic, market-economy future. President Karimov and his nomenklatura will only keep Uzbekistan in the grip of poverty and repression like was once the plight of Czechoslovakia. Please order the release of Muhammad Salih immediately so he can return to Norway. Yours respectfully, Maria Danielson Philadelphia Independent Media Center (www.phillyimc.org) 133 S. 22nd St. Apt. 4R Philadelphia, PA 19103 – USA “DEAR PRESIDENT VACLAV HAVEL...” Vaclav Havel President of the Czech Republic Stanislav Gross Minister of the Interior FAX: +42 02 378 216 Cc: Jan Jarab Government Commissioner for Human Rights FAX: +42 02 494 6615 Ron Noble Secretary General of Interpol FAX: +33 4 72 44 71 63 December 1, 2001 The Kyrgyz-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law is deeply concerned with the fate of the arrested Muhammad Salih, leader of the Erk Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, the trial on whom is reportedly today December 1, 2001. Salih was in Prague by the invitation of the Uzbek Service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe and was arrested by Czech police on November 28, 2001 at the request of Uzbek prosecution office. We urgently call for your personal intervention onto this matter to guarantee the integrity of Muhammad Salih and in hopes that he will not be subjected to an extradition. We hope that in given circumstances the Czech authorities will take the only wise solution and release him immediately. The Kyrgyz American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law believes that charges of Uzbek authorities and harassment of Muhammad Salih are politically motivated. The Erk Party registered in 1990 was one of the leading political forces in Uzbekistan. In 1991 he was the only challenger contesting the current president Islam Karimov. In 1993 Uzbek government banned Erk party and in 1994 Salih had to flee his country. He got a status of refugee in Norway. In six years he fled the country, in November 2000 the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Muhammad Salih in absentia to 15 and a half years' imprisonment on charges of organizing the bomb explosions in center of Tashkent of February 1999. No conclusive evidence of his guilt was presented. Uzbekistan for the past several years has been framing the cases on charges of terrorism, causing instability accompanied by huge human rights violations and freedoms. Uzbek authorities tolerate no any opposition parties or free media. No objective and just trials are practiced towards opposition, Salih's three brothers have been already serving long-term sentences prior subjected to tortures and harsh treatment. The Kyrgyz-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law calls you to take measures in conformity with the international treaties including the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the European Convention against Torture to which your country is a party and which abides the Czech Republic not to extradite a person to the country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Awaiting your response and just decision. The Kyrgyz-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law Natalia Ablova Zilfia Marat Anna Muratova Viktor Albitski Jamilya Tokmambetova
NorWegian foreign minister asks Kavan that Prague release Salikh PRAGUE/BUCHAREST, Dec 3 (CTK) - Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen today asked his Czech counterpart, Jan Kavan, that the Czech Republic extradite detained Uzbek dissident Mukhammed Salikh back to Norway, from where he had arrived in Prague last week. An official Norwegian request is reportedly on its way to Prague. Kavan supports Petersen's request, Czech Foreign Ministry senior official Karel Boruvka told CTK. Petersen and Kavan met during the OSCE ministerial summit in Bueharest today. Salikh, who enjoys refugee status in Norway, was detained in Prague last Wednesday on the basis of a warrant issued for his arrest by Interpol at Tashkent's initiativQ.-ITis- release or extradition abroad can be decided by a court only. Salikh's lawyer Miroslava Kohoutova today applied for Czech asylum on behalf of her client. Salikh has come to Prague at the invitation of the Prague- seated Radio Frec Europe (RFE) with which he has cooperated for a long time. On Friday, the Prague City Court took him into extradition custody until a decision is made on Uzbekistan's request for his extradition. In Uzbekistan he could face even death penalty, according to observers. -more The detention of Salikh has raised a wave of protests from international human right watchdog organisations. The idea of Salikh being extradited to Uzbekistan has also disquicted the U.S. Congress's committee for seeurity and cooperation in Europe. Kohoutova confinned that there was huge pressure from abroad in support of Salikh's release. "People from Norway and the whole world have contacted me. Some are planning demonstrations in support of Mr Salikh's liberation," she told CTK. She said she had enough evidence at the moment to prevent her elient's extradition to Uzbekistan. Czech bodies are waiting for official doeuments on Salikh's alleged eriminal activities reaching the Czech Republic from Uzbekistan. lf the documents do not arrive, Salikh will be released on the 41 st day following the start of his custody. Otherwise the state Will inciuire into whether his extradition to Uzbekistan is admissible. lf it is found admissible, a court will deside on the extradition in a public session. The verdict could be the justice minister if he doubted its correectness. Salikh fled Karimov-controlled regime in Uzbekistan, where he was in early 1999 sentensed in absentia to 15,5 years prison for his participation in a terrorist attack in Tashkent in which 16 people were killed.
“I fear that my father will be killed...” Jan Gunnar Furuly Aftenposten, My father will be killed if he is sent to Uzbekistan, says Timur Salih (21) to Aftenposten -We were shocked, says the wife. She is visible taken by the situation, and does not want us to take pictures of her face. The family has been used to live under uncertain conditions, since they fled from Uzbekistan in 1993. The Salih was the strongest oponent to Islam Karimov during the Uzbekistan's first president elections, after the breakup of Soviet Union. Salihs party got close to 20 percent of the votes. Salih has since then been afraid that Karimov and Uzbekistan's security service will take his life. Salih was, and is, a very popular politician in his home country, and Karimov is said to have felt Salihs popularity as a threat. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet earlier this year told in an article that the uzbek security service tried to recruit an uzbek and to chechens to kill Salih under one of his many travels to Germany. Radio Free Europe has told about several plans to kill Salih while he has been travelling in Europe, where he has met the uzbek oposition in exile. Aydin Salih and Timur Salih was more reliefed in their minds when Aftenposten visited them Friday evening, than just after they got the message about the arrest. Friends had called from Prague, telling them that the Czech president and writer Vaclav Havel had said on Czech tv that it was doubtly if Czech Republic was going to send Salih to Uzbekistan. -We hope we can trust on Havel. But it was scary that he was not released after the court hearing in Prague, says Timur Salih. He tells that three of his fathers brothers are jailed in Uzbekistan as "hostages" for Mohammed Salih, and that they are tortured. Also the brothers are central figures in the Erk party. -One of them got both his feets crushed. He cannot walk anymore. Another has problems with his eyes, but I do not know what has happened to him, says Timur Salih. A fourth uncle, Maksud Begjan, who now is visiting the family in Oslo says: -President Karimov has no scruples faced to political oponents. He does everything to protect his dictatorship. Jan Gunnar Furuly Oslo, Aftenposten, http://www.aftenposten.no Czech Republic: A Sudden Arrest Transitions Online. Week in Review, 27 November 2001 by Michael Cavanagh Czech police have arrested an Uzbek opposition leader on an Interpol warrant issued by Uzbekistan, but human rights groups say they should let him go. PRAGUE, Czech Republic--Exiled Uzbek dissident Mohammed Solih began serving 40 days of detention after being remanded in custody by Prague City Court on 30 November while Czech officials decide whether they should honor a request from Uzbekistan to extradite him. At the same time, Solih, who has been convicted in absentia by an Uzbek court on charges of terrorism, asked for political asylum in the Czech Republic, according to his Czech lawyer. The Uzbek opposition leader, who said he came to the Czech capital to visit Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was arrested at Prague's Ruzyne Airport on 28 November on an Interpol extradition request submitted by Uzbekistan. The Czech legal authorities have asked Uzbekistan for documents related to his conviction. Any decision to extradite Solih back to Uzbekistan must be approved by a Czech court in a public hearing. One year ago, the Uzbek Supreme Court sentenced Solih in absentia to a 15.5-year prison term on charges of terrorism and "anti-state activities" in connection with a bomb blast that killed 16 people and injured 150 others in the Uzbek capital Tashkent in 1999. Solih denied the charges and any involvement in the bombing from his exile in Norway, and various human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, have said the conviction was politically motivated. Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross has said that the Czech authorities were just doing their job when they arrested Solih as he arrived on a flight from Amsterdam. Gross has also said that the Czech Republic would "probably not" extradite Solih if it had reason to believe that doing so could threaten his life or health, according to The New York Times. Following Solih's arrest, activists and human rights organizations quickly circulated a flurry of e-mails seeking a letter-writing and telegram campaign on his behalf. Many said the Uzbek dissident would face possible torture or death if extradited to Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch noted that the Czech Republic is a signatory to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the United Nations Convention against Torture. Both conventions prohibit the return of a person to a country or territory where it is feared they may face serious human rights violations. Solih said that he came to Prague last week at the invitation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which has interviewed him periodically in the past for its news programs. A spokeswoman for the international broadcaster, Sonia Winter, confirmed that the station had issued an open invitation to Solih, but she said the station did not know exactly when he would be arriving. Solih, also known as Salay Madaminov, is the chairman of the Erk (Freedom) Democratic Party, a political opposition party banned by the Uzbek government since 1993. He was the only independent candidate to challenge Uzbek President Islam Karimov in the 1991 presidential elections, in which he won about 10 percent of the vote. After being repeatedly arrested and harassed following the elections, he fled the country - first to Turkey and later to Norway. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Right Watch assert that Solih's trial and conviction were politically motivated. Human Rights Watch, which monitored the trial, stated at the time that it was reminiscent of Soviet-era show trials and that no material evidence of Solih's guilt was presented. Nine of Solih's co-defendants received lengthy terms in prison, and two other men, sentenced in absentia at the same trial, were sentenced to death. Complicating matters is apparent confusion regarding whether Solih has been granted asylum by Norway. According to the Czech news agency CTK, Interpol claims Solih is currently seeking asylum in Norway. But Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Karsten Klepsvik told CTK on 3 December that Norway had granted him asylum two years ago. Meanwhile, Danica Hrabalova from the Czech Police Presidium told CTK that Solih is waiting for Norway to decide his asylum request. Hrabalova told CTK that Solih had not been arrested by Dutch police in Amsterdam because of the Schengen Treaty, which most Western European countries have signed. The Czech Republic is not a signatory. "The countries bound by the Schengen Treaty must not extradite a person who is registered as an asylum seeker [in another Schengen signatory]. The international arrest warrant becomes effective as soon as he or she crosses the [Schengen] border," CTK quoted Hrabalova as saying.
Protect Democracy, Not Dictators Russia/CIS/Eastern Europe, Moscow Times By Mark N. Katz Pandering to a dictator in the name of fighting Islamic terrorism threatens to reach a new low. Uzbek dissident leader Mohammed Salikh was arrested on an Interpol warrant initiated by the Uzbek government just after arriving in the Czech Republic last week. Uzbek President Islam Karimov had one of his courts convict Salikh in abstentia last year of involvement in a series of bombings that took place in Tashkent in 1999. Salikh faces a 15-year prison term if he is deported back to Uzbekistan. The Karimov government accused the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan – an Islamic fundamentalist movement allied to the Taliban - of masterminding these bombings. It also accuses Salikh, and all its opponents, of being Islamic fundamentalists. I met with Salikh in October 1992, when he was still in Tashkent. He is no Islamic fundamentalist, but a democrat. He had run against Karimov for president in December 1991. Even by the rigged vote count, Salikh garnered an eighth of the votes. Other observers believe he won far more – perhaps even a majority. He had a seat in parliament until he resigned in July 1992 to protest the government's increasing repression. He fled into exile shortly after I met him. Salikh described to me how Karimov sought to discredit the democratic opposition in the West by portraying it as Islamic fundamentalist. He hoped the West would not be fooled, but feared it would be. He predicted that while Karimov could quickly eliminate his democratic opponents, he would not be able to get rid of his Islamic fundamentalist ones so easily. With the democratic opposition gone, the Islamic fundamentalist opposition would just get stronger. This prediction has come true. The United States and the West have basically allied with the Karimov dictatorship for fear that its downfall would lead to the rise of an Islamic fundamentalist regime. We have become especially dependent on Karimov now for allowing us to use his country as a military staging ground. Karimov is clearly hoping to take advantage of this dependence on him to silence Salikh's criticism of his regime. It would be a profound betrayal of Western values if we allowed this to happen. Much more is at stake here than just the fate of Salikh. Many are already questioning whether we have gone in to Afghanistan to advance democracy or to protect dictatorships allied to us in that part of the world. What happens to Salikh could reveal much about how that question will be answered. Mark N. Katz is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University. He contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.
The West should continue to pressure repressive regimes such as the one in Uzbekistan Jeremy Druker Transitions Online PRAGUE--The arrest of a prominent Uzbek opposition activist in Prague last week has once again shone the spotlight on the pitfalls and dangers of the U.S. - led war on terrorism in Central Asia. Czech police arrested Mohammed Solih--who heads the banned Uzbek opposition party Erk (Freedom) - on 28 November on an Interpol warrant requested by Uzbekistan. The arrest came as a surprise, since Solih has been granted political asylum by Norway and has recently traveled freely to other European countries. While details remain sketchy, the decision to arrest Solih may have resulted from an automatic response to an Interpol warrant. Czech legal authorities must now decide whether to extradite Solih to Uzbekistan or not. The Czech interior minister has already gone on record as saying that Solih would "probably not" be sent to Uzbekistan to face charges if it would mean a threat to his life or health. In a broad sense, the case calls to mind some dangers associated with the war on terrorism. The Uzbek authorities have been hounding Solih for the best part of a decade, ever since he unsuccessfully ran for president in the country's first post-Soviet elections back in 1991. Since then, the Uzbek authorities have sought to quash the Erk party by outlawing it, arresting and torturing its activists, and forcing Solih himself into exile. In 1999, a bomb exploded in the capital, Tashkent, killing 16 people. The Uzbek authorities blamed the blast on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) but also charged that Solih had been involved in organizing the attack. A year later, Solih was sentenced in absentia to 15 and a half years in prison on charges of helping to organize the attack. Monitors from Human Rights Watch said no compelling evidence was presented at the trial against Solih. Then came the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States - an event that immediately placed terrorism at the top of the world agenda. In its efforts to strike back at the terrorists responsible for bringing down the World Trade Center and attacking the Pentagon as well as at "those who harbor terrorists," the United States has sought out the help of countries around the world, including some states with unsavory leaders like Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov. The move was naturally governed by expedience more than anything else. Uzbekistan is a neighbor of Afghanistan and, what is more, Uzbek authorities are also engaged in a fight against Islamist terrorist networks. But how effective an ally can Uzbekistan possibly be? Karimov himself recently aired his own views on the fight against terrorism and those who harbor terrorists: "Indifference to, and tolerance of, those with evil intentions who are spreading various fabrications, handing out leaflets, committing theft and sedition in some neighborhoods, and spreading propaganda on behalf of religion should be recognized as being supportive of these evil-doers." In other words, those who hand out "leaflets" or spread "propaganda" about a religion can and will be treated as though they support terrorism. Thousands of Uzbeks are in prison at the moment, with or without having been charged, on suspicion of being involved in Islamist groups. Even growing a beard can be enough to raise the suspicions of Uzbek police. A group of Erk activists who were arrested in connection with the Tashkent bombing were brutally tortured in prison and convicted in trials that fell far short of international standards, according to human rights organizations. It is obvious that such an approach has little to do with respect for basic human rights. But it could also prove to be a dangerously ineffective way of dealing with terrorism. By lumping any form of opposition to the regime - Islamic or not - into the same category as fundamentalist terrorism, the Karimov regime provides no outlet for people's legitimate frustrations. And by treating the Uzbek regime as an ally in the fight against terrorism, Western countries become targets for those frustrations as well. In recent decades, Central Asia has been crippled by violence - some of it fueled by Islamist ideology - notably in Afghanistan and during the Tajik civil war of the early 1990s. Because of that, postwar reconciliation efforts - across the region - must include Islamic forces. Exclusion can be nothing but counterproductive. The United States and other Western countries should be very careful not to be lured into Karimov's paranoid world. They must keep such regimes at arm's length and keep the pressure on Tashkent over its human rights violations. If the Uzbek authorities are convinced that Solih is a terrorist, let them provide the compelling evidence. Judging from Solih's trial, there is little. But even if there were some evidence, countries that respect the rule of law - among which the Czech Republic certainly counts itself - should be wary of sending someone like Solih back for trial to Uzbekistan. He is not likely to get a fair trial there. Nor is he likely to live to tell his side of the story to the world.
Muhammed Salihs letter from Prague Prison Uzbekistan: Imprisoned In Prague, Dissident Solih Issues Statement Mohammad Solih, the leading Uzbek opposition leader who was arrested in Prague last week on a warrant issued by Interpol at the behest of Uzbek authorities, wrote this "Letter to the People of Prague" from his jail cell at Pankrac prison, where he is awaiting a decision by Czech authorities on whether he will be extradited to Uzbekistan or released from custody. The letter was given exclusively to RFE/RL, the organization that invited him to Prague to take part in roundtable discussions on the situation in Uzbekistan. Here is the letter in its entirety: Prague, 3 December 2001 (RFE/RL) -- Of all the political leaders of the 20th century I have the most respect for President Nelson Mandela of South Africa and President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic. In a way, they have both always reconciled things that are impossible to reconcile; they have always been symbols of high moral values in politics. These two politicians valued the freedom of their peoples more than their own freedom while never advertising this quality, never taking advantage of their images; they never became populists. When I came to Prague, invited by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, I did not expect for a minute that it would be here, in the free country of Vaclav Havel, that I would be arrested. I do not have the strength to describe the level of lawlessness in my country. Imagine that every citizen of the country lives in constant fear of the state; that he or she can be arrested now, in one hour, or tomorrow. And nobody even knows what he or she can be arrested for. They feel guilty even without having committed a crime. Just like a Kafka character. There are 25 million people living in Uzbekistan. It is a gigantic gallery of Kafka characters. It is my beloved people. Bertolt Brecht once said: "I will tell you about my disgrace, then you tell me about yours." So let me tell you about mine, if you will excuse me. All those people who stood up against the repression, against the state, have been immediately crushed or made to leave their country. I left my country. I loved it just like Vaclav Havel loves his Czech Republic. However, I left it to save my life; I thought that it would be needed for the work in the name of our ideals that we have been cherishing even during Soviet times, in the name of human freedom, human thought, and our nation. Alas, I did not succeed. I was not able to use the saved life as well as I had hoped to. It has been eight years since I left Uzbekistan and there has not been one day that I was not persecuted by the Uzbek authorities. No matter what country I stayed in, I was immediately "identified" and "declassified" and the country that had accepted me was bombarded with notes of protest by the Uzbek Foreign Ministry. I was deported from Turkey four times in three years. I was deported every time before [Uzbek President Islam Karimov's] visit to Ankara and before the president of a Mediterranean country's visit to Tashkent. In other words, for both leaders your humble servant was the subject of a fine gesture, good manners. For five years my family and I were knocking around the world and finally, in 1998, we addressed the United Nations seeking political asylum and were accepted by Norway. Norway, incidentally, did not have any "geopolitical interests" in Uzbekistan and did not buy Uzbek cotton. I thanked God when we moved to Oslo in 1999. Uzbekistan did not overlook that and Norway received a note of protest too. Moreover, the Uzbek authorities demanded my extradition as "terrorist number one," to which the Norwegian government replied with due dignity: "No!" The paperwork sent by the Uzbek branch of Interpol did not convince the Norwegian authorities that I was a terrorist, but on the contrary, that I was a victim of terror, a victim of state terror, of the state that has destroyed the best sons of my nation in the last eight years and is still continuing to do that. Some 8,000 political prisoners are tortured in the prisons of Uzbekistan now. This number comes from official statistics, while human rights activists suppose that the real number of political prisoners doubles that. Among those prisoners are my three brothers. They were sentenced to 15 years of hard labor only because they were my family. They are now being tortured and humiliated by the local law enforcement authorities. The famous Uzbek writer Mamadali Makhmudov also got a 15-year term of hard labor. Those butchers have mutilated him beyond recognition to make him foully slander me. During his trial, Mamadali Makhmudov confessed that he had testified against [me] while being tortured. Mamadali Makhmudov is my friend; he was punished because he had been to Ukraine in 1998 to see me. They called him "a terrorist" because he knows me. I am called "a terrorist" because four years ago in Istanbul I met with Tahir Yuldashev, an Uzbek emigre who is now the leader of an armed Uzbek opposition group. In 1997, when I first met him, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan did not exist and Yuldashev was of no significance to anybody. As many other emigres did, he often visited all the Uzbek families who lived in Istanbul. But the February 1999 explosions in Tashkent brought this unknown man to the front pages of the world's newspapers. The Uzbek president considered those explosions murderous assaults aimed at assassinating him. Three days later the president announced to the rest of the world that Muhammad Solih was one of the instigators of the explosions. It was 1999, and the parliamentary and presidential elections were coming up. Representatives of Erk, the party headed by me and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), discussed the upcoming elections and the possibility of the return of the opposition leaders to Uzbekistan. That worried the Uzbek government - something had to be done. It has been quite common to discredit the political opposition to prevent it from taking part in elections, to make sure there is no competition. Thus, before the 1995 elections I was accused of stealing an antique coin from a museum and preparing 19 people for a coup d'etat. We were not allowed to participate in the elections. Then I spoke on Radio Liberty and asked the president of Uzbekistan: "What kind of a state is it that one can turn it upside down with the help of 19 young men?" The president, of course, didn't answer this question but was pleased with the result of the elections with no opposition involved. The president elected himself and those obedient to him. In the meantime the authorities brought up that antique coin again. The trial was quite a success, the opposition was seemingly disgraced. Why would I have hidden the coin.[Illegible, a line from the original fax missing here.] This is how I have become a "terrorist." I was arrested at the passport control of the Prague airport. I came to this beautiful city on the invitation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The day before my arrival to Prague I took part in a seminar of the International Crisis Group in Brussels and also visited the Central Asia Commission of the European Parliament, where we actually discussed the problems of terrorism. I hate terror. No matter where it comes from, no matter what goal is behind it, I hate terror. I hate it because it nurses fear. It cultivates fear in people's hearts, in their minds. And fear is the most abominable, the most humiliating feeling for a human being. Our party Erk was the first party to condemn the terrorist act of 16 February in Tashkent. When I was accused of a coup attempt in 1995 I was shocked, but when I was accused of being one of the organizers of this bloody act I was infuriated by this blatant insult, because it is only people of no principles, cynical and godless people, who commit acts of terror, only those who think their goal justifies their means. Terror is the method of the Soviet communists, whom I have hated all my conscious life. That is why I feel so insulted by this accusation. The Uzbek government has brought eight lawsuits against me up to now – all of them having been completely fabricated - all of them nothing but slander. But why have only two of them been sent to the Czech Republic? Did they think that these two cases were more believable than the others? Even if so, they are out of luck, because all of the so-called witnesses withdrew their testimony against me, having said that they had given their statements under torture of Uzbek investigators. I am writing this now feeling slightly irritated. I do not like being my own advocate. I will let people think and make their own conclusions. I do not want to influence the way the trial will go, because I know that the Czech Republic is a jural state that respects [the rule of] law. I hope that I will not be sent back to the jaws of the totalitarian monster. Maybe it is even good that my misfortune will let the legal elite of Prague see the face of this monster. I am an optimist but I do not rule out the worst possibility. They still can send me back. It would be the worst thing that could happen to me. Then I would have to prepare myself for death, I can say that with 100-percent certainty. In April this year they tried to kill me but by God's will I remained alive. They put $2 million on stake, of which 135,000 were paid in advance to the killers they hired, but God messed up their cards once again. This operation was led by Colonel Mahmud Khaitov, director of the Uzbek branch of Interpol on the order of the Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov. They reported on the progress of the plan to the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This case, like a detective story, stirred up interest in the Russian media. The famous "Our Version: Classified Confidential" TV show host Mikhail Markelov made a 30-minute documentary about it, and it was shown on Russian television on 27 May of this year. As soon as the documentary was shown on TV, Khaitov, the Uzbek Interpol director, was dismissed from his position because his voice was heard in the report talking on the telephone about the rest of the money for the assassination. The voices that were not heard in the film kept their positions. I showed the film to Norwegian journalists and they asked me: "How can the Interpol director be involved in organizing an assassination?" Yes, he can, in our country. In our country ministers can be involved in these kind of activities, and not only ministers - but those who issues orders to ministers too. Do people at Interpol headquarters in Lyon know about it? Do they know who is who? I suppose they don't, otherwise I would not have been arrested at the Prague airport. I never wanted to, but now I do want to get into a "Who is Who?" book. It does not have to be as a "poet" or a "party leader." [Such a thing would not] work for the police, I know it. I just need a caption under my photo saying: "Such and such is not a terrorist." These are the values of the new era. Is it a privilege now to be considered a terrorist? Has terror occupied so much territory in our lives? Are we doomed to look at every stranger or any foreigner like we would at a potential terrorist? Last year I published my book of memoirs and as the epigraph I chose these words by Andre Malraux: "The 21st century will either be spiritual or it will not be." Now I'm afraid that Malraux's prophecy will not come true. The 21st century is starting with the globalization of terror and the fight against it. It is not only the globalization of terror but the globalization of the fight against it that also frightens me, because the dictators like ours, in the shade of this slogan, legitimize terror against their people, humiliate human rights and free thought, more freely dispose of their opponents with only one excuse - the fight against terrorism. When President Bush said that he was going to eradicate terrorism, to tear it up by its roots, we were happy, because we thought we would show him where those roots were. I even wrote a special article on this topic. The roots of terrorism are in the political regime currently existing in our country. The so-called Wahhabi Movement emerged in Uzbekistan as a reaction to brutal repression against the religious part of the population. Juma Namangani's armed group [the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan] is the mirror of the totalitarian rule of the president of Uzbekistan. Terror can only be born of terror, just like a man can be born of man. If the Uzbek president had not been busy destroying the democratic opposition for years, the political life of the country would not have the vacuum that it has and is now being filled with such radical groups. So the "roots of terrorism" are quite transparent. When these roots are torn out is only a matter of a political situation and current conditions. We'll wait, we'll see. Despite the grim tone, I am hoping for better times, making plans for better days. However, I did remove the epigraph from Malraux from the Turkish translation of my book. I don't know why, it just happened that way. Maybe the epigraph sounded a bit too optimistic. Or maybe too categorical: "The 21st century will either be spiritual or it will not be." Mohammad Solih (signed)
Uzbekistan: Opposition Leader Awaits Decision On Possible Extradition By Bruce Pannier Uzbek opposition leader Mohammad Solih was detained in Prague last week on an Interpol warrant. Solih, whom the Uzbek government has accused of Islamic extremism and involvement in terrorist acts, remains in custody pending an official extradition request from the Uzbek government and documents concerning his case. Solih's lawyer has said he will ask for political refugee status for his client in the Czech Republic. As RFE/RL correspondent Bruce Pannier reports, there has been a flurry of activity in the meantime to have Solih freed. Prague, 4 December 2001 (RFE/RL) - The leader of Uzbekistan's banned opposition party, Erk (Freedom), remains in a holding facility in the Czech capital, Prague, today. Mohammad Solih was taken into custody last week (28 November), when he arrived at Prague's Ruzyne airport from Amsterdam. The Uzbek government has accused him of working with Islamic terrorists to plant bombs in Tashkent in February 1999 in an attempt to assassinate the country's president, Islam Karimov. Some 16 people were killed and another 150 injured in the blasts. Solih - who was the only independent candidate to challenge Karimov in 1991 presidential elections, and whose Erk party was banned in 1993 – has repeatedly denied involvement in the bombings. But the Uzbek government - which last year sentenced Solih in absentia to a 15 1/2-year prison term - put out a warrant for his arrest with Interpol, which Czech authorities used to detain Solih after his arrival in the country. Concerted efforts by human rights groups to free Solih have so far been complicated by the number of interested parties in the affair. Members of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service visited Solih in detention today and said he is in good health and good spirits. Solih says he traveled to Prague to grant an interview to Radio Liberty. Solih can be held for up to 40 days while Czech authorities wait for Uzbekistan to send a formal extradition request for Solih and documents concerning the charges against him. Maisy Weicherding works on Central Asian issues for Amnesty International in London. She said her organization has already asked the Czech government to turn Solih over to Norway, which granted him political asylum two years ago. "We have asked for the Czech government to actually release Mohammad Solih and to return him to Norway so that the Norwegian government can deal with the extradition request from Uzbekistan, because he is a refugee in Norway and it [is incumbent for] the Norwegian authorities to deal with any extradition requests that the Uzbek authorities put forward." Solih was visited yesterday by the Norwegian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Lasse Seim. Last night, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen asked his Czech counterpart, Jan Kavan, to have Solih sent back to Norway. Solih's supporters argue that if he is extradited to Uzbekistan, he may face torture or death. Uzbekistan's poor human rights record includes instances of police torture, sometimes resulting in death. The Uzbek government has repeatedly cracked down on non-mainstream Islamic groups in efforts it defends as attempts to fight terrorism in the region. Solih describes himself not as a terrorist but rather as a victim of terror dispensed by the Uzbek government. Solih admits that, after fleeing the country in the early 1990s, he met briefly with a man who went on to lead the extremist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) organization, which has nbeen held responsible for several terrorist acts in Uzbekistan. But Solih says the IMU had not yet been formed at the time of their meeting, and adds that it is common for Uzbek opposition figures of all stripes to meet once they have left the country. The Uzbek government has always tried to control or eliminate opposition to the government. Weicherding described the situation in Uzbekistan in the early 1990s: "Mohammad Solih founded Erk, the opposition party, in 1990. And it was basically allowed to operate for about a year, and he ran as a presidential candidate, as well. But from 1992 onwards, there was a real clampdown on all opposition parties and Erk, and later Birlik, were banned and a lot of members of the parties were arrested and Mohammad Solih had to go into exile." Solih is still the chairman of the banned Erk Democratic Party. Though he lost in his presidential bid against Karimov in 1991, Solih still gathered some 12 percent of the vote - a remarkable feat for an opponent in an election that many regarded as rigged. Solih's lawyer, Miroslava Kohoutova, told RFE/RL last week that Solih may have to seek political refugee status in the Czech Republic to prevent any possibility of him being sent back to Uzbekistan. Kohoutova said she is optimistic about Solih's chances to be freed. A number of governments and organizations have appealed for Solih's release. Besides Amnesty International, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group in Brussels - as well as the U.S. government - have made requests for Solih's release and return to Norway. Uzbekistan is a key regional player in the United States' coalition against terror and has agreed to allow the U.S. use of its airspace and military bases for its campaign in Afghanistan. Many human rights observers have worried that the West, in return for Uzbekistan's participation, would soften its stance on the country's human rights record.
EXILED DISSIDENT'S DETENTION RAISES ALARM AMONG RIGHTS ADVOCATES IN UZBEKISTAN AND ELSEWHERE Alec Appelbaum Uzbek dissident and writer Mohammed Solih remains in a Czech jail as Uzbekistan's government assembles documentation for an extradition request based on a terrorism conviction. Solih has repeatedly denied his involvement in any terrorist activity, and has condemned Uzbek President Islam Karimov's crackdown on human rights. Solih has lived in exile since 1992, when the party that he leads, Erk, was banned. At the time of his November 28 arrest, he was traveling to Prague to speak at the invitation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. His detention has stirred rights advocates in Uzbekistan and elsewhere. On November 30, Hazratqul Khudojberdi of the Uzbek pro-democracy Birlik movement circulated an open letter to Czech president Vaclav Havel urging the Czech courts against extradition. Khudojberdi swore that Solih "would be in grave danger of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment" upon his return to Uzbekistan. A Czech judge on November 30 ordered Solih held for 40 days in order to provide Uzbekistan with time to present evidence that would support his return to Tashkent. The Erk party, which he heads in absentia, reported on December 3 that he intends to apply for Czech asylum. He has asylum in Oslo, and the Norwegian government appealed for his release on December 3. Solih was convicted by the Uzbek government of conspiring to assassinate Karimov in 1999. Solih has always categorically denied the charges, which triggered a period of intense crackdowns on free speech in Uzbekistan. A Human Rights Watch observer at the trial said it was conducted in a Soviet-style atmosphere, in which Solih's guilt was predetermined. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan reportedly supports the idea of releasing Solih, but Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch says such sympathy will not necessarily protect the Uzbek opposition leader. "We want the government of Norway and the government of the United States to say that he should be released and not extradited," Denber told EurasiaNet. Denber declined to speculate on what would happen next. She did note that Solih stood a better chance of airing his grievances in the Czech system, under which extradition requests receive hearings. In Russia, extradition requests are an administrative matter. While the Uzbek government assembles its case, it may draw on its current alliance with the United States. Uzbekistan has become a key ally in the American campaign in Afghanistan, providing a crucial bridge for American and allied soldiers into the Afghan capital. The United States has not made a formal statement regarding Solih. But rights advocates around the world, using email campaigns like Khudojberdi's, may continue filling any silence from American diplomats. In his open letter to Havel, Khudojberdi invoked the Czech Republic's multilateral commitments to UN conventions- implying that a conviction of Solih on antiterrorist grounds would not wash. "He is never involved in undemocratic action, he hates terror and always fights against government's violence and terror against citizens," the letter said. Editor's Note: Alec Appelbaum is a contributing editor to EurasiaNet.
RFE/RL Urges Release of Salih Prague, Czech Republic - Prosecutor of the City of Prague and the Municipal Court of Prague, calling for the release from detention in a Czech prison of Uzbek human rights activist Mohammed Salih while vouching for his character and guaranteeing that Salih would remain "within the Czech Republic until a decision is entered by the court." Salih was detained on arrival at Prague's Ruzyne Airport on 28 November, on the basis of an Interpol warrant. Since that time, the Norwegian government -- where Salih was granted political asylum – and many non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Helsinki Federation have called for Salih's release. Salih was invited to visit the Prague Broadcast Center of RFE/RL. RFE/RL has worked closely with Czech, Norwegian and American authorities and Salih's family throughout his ordeal. The text of Dine's letter is attached (below). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East funded by the US Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. 5 December 2001 Prague, Czech Republic Dear Ms. Public Prosecutor: I write to attest to the good character of and high principles held by Mr. Mohammed Salih (Salay Madaminov) who was born on 20 December 1949. Mr. Salih currently is in the preliminary custody of the Prague-Pankrac jail on the basis of the Municipal Court of Prague. Fully aware that the Czech Republic is a law abiding country and cooperatively lives up to international agreements, I ask respectfully that Mr. Salih be released from detention as soon as possible. A former political leader in Uzbekistan, Mr. Salih ran for theoffice of the presidency as a credible independent candidate in 1991. Following the election in which he lost to Islam Karimov, Uzbek authorities began a campaign of harassment against him, arresting him several times. In order to avoid further harassment, he fled the country and found legal residency in Norway. Since then, Mr. Salih has become an internationally recognized human rights activist and political authority on Uzbek affairs. In turn, the Uzbek Supreme Court convicted him in absentia to 15 years and six months of imprisonment for alleged terrorism and activities against the Uzbek State. Such globally respected non-governmental organizations as Human Rights Watch observed this process and declared it unfair and unconvincing. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty invited Mr. Salih to visit the Czech Republic last week to be interviewed by its Uzbek Service on matters pertaining to present-day Uzbekistan. We know Mr. Salih to be a fair, honest, and brave person promoting human rights and democratic institutions and processes in his homeland. Because my colleagues and I vouch for his good character, I urge that he be released from detention in accord with Czech law and regulations. In this regard, we will work closely with him, guaranteeing that he stay within the Czech Republic until a decision is entered by the court. Thank you and best regards. Sincerely, /signed/ Thomas A. Dine Prague faces dilemma over Salikh Czech authorities face a diplomatic and human rights quandary after detaining the head of Uzbekistan's exiled opposition. Mohammed Salikh, the leader of Uzbekistan's largest opposition party, was arrested on an Interpol warrant after arriving at Ruzyne airport from Amsterdam on Nov. 28. The 52-year-old Salikh had been invited to Prague by Radio Free Europe (RFE) to speak on human rights violations in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic that borders Afghanistan. He is being held in Pankrac prison while authorities decide whether to extradite him to Uzbekistan. Norway, where Salikh has been based since gaining political asylum there in 1999, has aksed the Czech Republic allow him to return. The Foreign Ministry has said the request will likely be honored. Salikh was tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 and a half years by an Uzbek court in connection with a 1999 bombing in the capital of Tashkent that left 16 dead. "If he is sent to Uzbekistan, there's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Salikh faces certain death," said RFE spokeswoman Sonia Winter. Rights groups say Salikh's trial was part of crackdown by Uzbek President Islam Karimov against domestic opposition. Karimov is a secular figure in a predominantly Muslim state. Salikh, a prominent poet, unsuccessfully ran against Karimov in a 1991 presidential election. Organizations including Amnesty International called on President Vaclav Havel to intervene to free Salikh. Havel was following the case closely, said spokesman Ladislav Spacek. The U.S. Congress' Committee for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that it was unlikely Salikh could receive a fair trial in Uzbekistan. The 1951 Refugee Convention and other UN pacts to which the Czech Republic adheres forbid sending refugees into territory where they face human rights violations. The European Union, which this country hopes to join in 2004, bars extradition to nations with the death penalty. Until his detention in Prague, Salikh, based in Norway, had traveled freely in the West. But Czech authorities defended their actions. "The police are not interested in what kind of man Mr. Salikh may be," said police spokeswoman Danica Hrabalova. "What we find important is that there is a warrant out for his arrest."
Uzbekistan criticized over treatment of political oppositionists former Soviet states. 06.12.01 - Volume VII, Is. 224 By Vladimir Socor Uzbek emigre opposition leader Muhammad Solih has been detained in Prague, pending hearings on an extradition request initiated by Uzbekistan. He is wanted on an international arrest mandate issued by Uzbekistan through the Interpol. He was arrested by Czech police on November 28 at Prague airport on arrival from Norway where he has lived since 1999, reportedly with political asylum. Solih arrived in Prague on an invitation from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to participate in some programs. Muhammad Solih (the literary pseudonym of Salai Madaminov), 52, once a nationally known writer, is the leader of the banned Erk [Freedom] Democratic Party. He was the sole opponent to Islam Karimov in the 1992 presidential election. Erk's and Solih's program was secular, nationalist, Turkic-oriented, nonviolent, and basically pro-Western. The Erk party--legally registered in 1991--was banned in 1993, and the following year Solih went into exile in Turkey, whence he continued political activities against the Uzbek authorities. When Turkey, in a gesture to Karimov, asked Solih to leave, he moved to Norway. In November 2000, Solih was sentenced in absentia to fifteen years and six months in prison by the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan on charges of terrorism and conspiracy to assassinate state leaders and overthrow the lawful order. He was tried with eleven others, including Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) leaders Tahir Yuldash and Juma Namangani, who were sentenced to death in absentia. Nine other defendants received prison terms ranging from twelve to twenty years. The charges against all of them, including Solih, were related to the February 1999 bomb attacks in Tashkent, which killed at least sixteen people and injured more than 100, and the 1999 and 2000 IMU guerrilla incursions into Uzbekistan. The expatriate IMU had in fact assumed responsibility for most of those acts, and was added last year to the list of international terrorist organizations by the United States government. As regards Solih, however, the Tashkent trial did not produce any material evidence of nvolvement with IMU or terrorism. One witness in that trial--who was already then serving a prison term for his involvement in the February 1999 bomb attacks--testified that he had earlier arranged for Yuldash and Namangani a total of seventeen meetings with Solih in Turkey and elsewhere. According to this witness, the three had agreed on the short-term goal of deposing Karimov and setting up a coalition government in place of the existing system. But--according to the same testimony - they disagreed over long-term goals, because IMU's leaders envisaged an Islamic state whereas Solih stood for secular Turkic nationalism. That testimony may well have been obtained through coercion, as is often the case in Uzbek trials. Yet there were indications in 1998-2000 that Solih did make some contacts with IMU leaders. In 1999 he sought to use those contacts in attempting to mediate the peaceful release of hostages, seized by the IMU in Kyrgyzstan. He also shared with IMU the airwaves of Iranian state radio. All that gave the Uzbek authorities the opportunity to portray the IMU and Solih as components of a united opposition, blurring the great distinctions and differences between them. Amalgamating him with IMU leaders and militants in last year's trial was a move to discredit Solih internally as a political opponent and to prepare justifications for seeking his extradition. Norway has turned down that request from Tashkent. Meanwhile, Solih's three brothers are imprisoned in Uzbekistan on sentences ranging from ten to fifteen years on politically motivated charges. All the major human rights organizations in the United States and Western Europe have written to the Czech government demanding Solih's release. Czech President Vaclav Havel has announced that he is monitoring the situation, but so far has decided not to interfere with the legal procedure. Uzbekistan has forty days, from the date of the arrest, to present the charges with supporting evidence against Solih. Meanwhile, Uzbek law enforcement authorities are preparing the trial of Yusuf Juma [Jumaev], 58, a poet and supporter since 1989 of the banned movement Birlik [Unity]. Juma was arrested six weeks ago in his native Karakul district, Buhara Region, on the basis of information supplied by some villagers to the police. The charges against him include incitement to the overthrow of the lawful order and seditious calls to Jihad. According to a letter from the prosecution to the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, Juma made those calls in talking to villagers, in his written notes and in a poem titled "Jihad." One of Birlik's founding leaders, Abdumannob Polat - currently the director of the Central Asian Human Rights Information Network in Washington--has released full, annotated English and Russian translations of Juma's poem "Jihad," from which it appears that the term is being used metaphorically, rather than as an incitement to violence. An accompanying poem denounced incompetent and brutal officials. Juma's political reputation in Uzbekistan dates back to 1988 when a poem of his decried the economic bondage of the republic to the central government of the Soviet Union. Uzbek authorities are currently also facing questions on two unresolved cases of death in detention: that of Shovruk Ruzimuradov, one of the leaders of Birlik and of the Human Rights Society, and that of the Uzbek writer of Uighur origin Emin Usman. (CTK, November 29-December 4; Institute for War and Peace Reporting (London), no. 89, November 30; Human Rights Watch, International League for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Moscow Memorial, Central Asian Human Rights Information Network press releases, November 29-December 4; see The Monitor, November 20, 2000; September 11, 2001). SALIH ARRESTED FOR HIS POLITICS, JUMAEV Compiled by Adam Albio RFE/RL Central Asia Report - Uzbek poet and politician Mohammad Salih - head of the banned Erk ("Freedom") party and President Karimov's challenger in the 1991 elections -- was arrested in Prague on 28 November on an Interpol warrant issued by Uzbekistan, and remains in custody pending the arrival of documentation demanding his extradition. Solih fled Uzbekistan in 1994 to escape criminal charges, which he maintains were politically motivated, and was sentenced in absentia to 15 1/2 years in jail as a te |
