PETITION TO:

UNITED NATIONS

WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION

Chairperson-Rapporteur: Mr.Malich Sow (Senegal)

Vice-Chairperson: Ms.Shaheen Sardar Ali (Pakistan)

Mr.Vladimir Tochilovsky (Ukraine)

Mr.Roberto Garretón (Chile)

Mr.Mads Andenas (Norway)

By: Patrick Griffith

April 26, 2012

Today, Dilmurod Saidov is spending his 50th birthday in a prison work camp in Navoi, Uzbekistan. Over the course of the last year, the international community has watched, and debated, as relations between Uzbekistan and the West have steadily improved. But, as we discuss the costs and benefits of any further strategic engagement with the Karimov regime, we must not forget the individual victims of that government’s repressive policies.

PETITION TO:

UNITED NATIONS

WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION

Chairperson-Rapporteur: Mr.Malich Sow (Senegal)
Vice-Chairperson: Ms.Shaheen Sardar Ali (Pakistan)
Mr.Vladimir Tochilovsky (Ukraine)
Mr.Roberto Garretón (Chile)
Mr.Mads Andenas (Norway)

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

In the Matter of
Dilmurod Saidov,
Citizen of Uzbekistan
v.
Government of Uzbekistan

Honorary Co-Chair
The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu
The Honorable Václav Havel (In Memoriam, 2006-2011)

January 27, 2012

Contact: Patrick Griffith
+1 202.223.3733
pgriffith@freedom-now.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNITED NATIONS DECLARES CONTINUED DETENTION OF
AKZAM TURGUNOV ARBITRARY; CALLS FOR RELEASE

Washington, D.C.: In response to a petition filed by Freedom Now, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued an opinion that the detention of Akzam Turgunov by the Government of Uzbekistan is arbitrary and a violation of international law. The UN Working Group—an independent panel of human rights experts from around the world calls for his release.

Human rights or security: A false choice

By Maran Turner

January 27, 2012

This month, Akzam Turgunov, an Uzbek human rights advocate, spent his 60th birthday in a prison work camp. Just before his birthday, the Obama administration moved to weaken U.S. sanctions against Uzbekistan that have been in place since 2004 due to its abhorrent human rights practices. Turgunov’s imprisonment, recently declared a violation of international law by the United Nations, stands as one example of those practices.

http://www.freedom-now.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Turgunov-WGAD-Opinion-No-53-2011.pdf

International Human Rights Committee Blog (American Bar Association)

By: Patrick Griffith

Earlier this month, on December 10, rights activists around the world celebrated International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Although the UDHR was passed by the UN General Assembly 65 years ago, its promise remains unfulfilled in states like Uzbekistan, where the government continues to persecute its own citizens for peacefully exercising their fundamental human rights.

September 27, 2011

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
US Department of State
Harry S. Truman Building
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Clinton,

We represent a broad, international coalition of human rights organizations, labor groups, trade unions, investors, and others, including independent civil society groups based in Uzbekistan, brought together by our common concern over recent actions by the US government to move toward “business as usual” with the Uzbek government, which remains one of the most repressive in the world.

By: Steve Swerdlow and Patrick Griffith

The Huffington Post

September 8, 2011

A high-level Uzbek official is in Washington this week for talks about ramping up cooperation on supply routes through Central Asia for US troops in Afghanistan. All well and good. The US needs to supply the troops. But if the Arab Spring has taught the U.S. nothing else, it is that there is a cost for playing footsie with repressive regimes. And Uzbekistan is about as repressive as they come.

Dear Chancellor Merkel,

We write to ask your assistance in addressing the Government of Uzbekistan’s continued and widespread human rights violations. Specifically, we urge you to raise with the Uzbek government the cases of 13 imprisoned human rights defenders. Germany must maintain a principled position towards the protection of fundamental human rights in Uzbekistan.