Currently media rights international organization “Reporters without Borders” delivers both legal and material assistance to imprisoned journalist Dilmurod Sayid and his younger brother Obidzhon Saidov, who is able to freely visit his brother in the prison and provide him with everything necessarydue to this support. The journalist and his family are grateful to the international organization for providing free assistance.

I would remind that89-year-old Hamdi Talipova, Dilmurod Sayid’s mother, passed away on 10 October 2014 in Tashkent. The old lady, who devoted herlast years to liberation of her son from the Uzbek prison, did not manage to see him.

For a whole month Dilmurod Sayid did not know that his mother had passed away. Obidzhon Saidov said that even before visiting his brother in the colony he doubted whether he should tell his brother about this sad news.

“Our elderly relatives advised me to tell Dilmurod about the death. They told me: “Tell him all about it, you cannot hide from him the news, if he finds out about it later, he can be very offended.”My best friend’s son took me to the bus stationwhen I was going to visit my brother. On the way, he told me: “Obidzhon-aka [aka is a polite Uzbek form to address elder males], I live only for the sake of my mother and younger sister. Your brother’s wife and his only daughter had died, now if you tell him about your mother’s death, you could break him.” This put me deeper in thoughts. Having arrived in the colony, I applied for permission to see my brother. An elderly woman from Andizhan was there at the entrance. I approached her and asked for her advice. After I told her my story, the old lady advised me: “Son, you cannot hide it from your brother,” Obidzhon Saidov told Jarayon.

He said that for a whole day he could not tell his brother about their mother’s death.

“The first day I could not tell him about our mother, I kept talking telling him all sorts of stories. In the evening, it looked like his heart sensed something was wrong, and he told me: “Come on, sit down, don’t keep walking up and down in the kitchen.” My brother started asking me about our mother, and I had to tell him everything. He sat in silence, thenhe prayed in her memory,” said Obidzhon Saidov.

It has been five years since independent Uzbek journalist Dilmurod Sayid was put in jail. Each year the Uzbek authorities deprive him of the right for an annual amnesty by means of a number of penalties and reprimands given to him by the prison administration.

“On 30 October 2014, the colony administration gave him another reprimand. He was not told what for” said Obidzhon Saidov.

In 2009, independent Uzbek journalist Dilmurod Sayid was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison on charges of “extortion’ and ‘making and forging documents, stamps, seals and printed forms”.Sayid categorically denied all the accusations in the court.

Human rights organizations declared that the criminal case against the journalist was fabricatedand he was put into jail for his professional activities. After the trial, some witnesses retracted their testimonies against Dilmurod Sayid, while others said they had testified against him under pressure of the Uzbek security services.

In 2009, when Dilmurod Sayid was serving his sentence, his 34-year-old wife Barno Zhumanova and his only 6-year-old daughter Rukhshona died in a car accident. His wife and daughter were going to visit him in the colony for prisoners with tuberculosis.

The Uzbek authorities did not allow Dilmurod Sayid to go to the funeralsof his dearest family members – his wife, daughter and mother, once again demonstrating thereby their inhumanity and cruelty.

Sofia DAVRONOVA