Muhammad Bekjanov
Yusuf Ruzimuradov
Arrested: March 15, 1999
Bekjanov, editor of Erk, a newspaper published by the banned opposition Erk party, and Ruzimuradov, an employee of the paper, were sentenced to 14 years and 15 years in prison, respectively, at an August 1999 trial in the capital, Tashkent. They were convicted for publishing and distributing a banned newspaper containing slanderous criticism of President Islam Karimov, participating in a banned political protest, and attempting to overthrow the regime. In addition, the court found them guilty of illegally leaving the country and damaging their Uzbek passports. Both men were tortured during their six-month pre-trial detention in the Tashkent City Prison. According to human rights activists in Tashkent, Bekjanov was transferred on November 27, 1999, to “strict-regime” Penal Colony 64/46 in the city of Navoi in central Uzbekistan. Local sources have informed CPJ that Ruzimuradov is being held in “strict-regime” Penal Colony 64/33 in the village of Shakhali near the town of Karshi.

Gayrat Mehliboyev
Arrested: July 24, 2002
Freelance journalist Mehliboyev was arrested for allegedly participating in an antigovernment rally protesting the imprisonment of members of the banned Islamist opposition party Hizb ut-Tahrir. When police searched Mehliboyev’s bed in a local hostel, they allegedly found banned religious literature that prosecutors later characterized as extremist in nature, according to international press reports. As evidence of Mehliboyev’s alleged religious extremism a, prosecutors presented political commentary he had written for the April 11, 2001, edition of the government funded newspaper, Hurriyat. The article questioned whether Western democracy should be a model for Uzbekistan and said that religion was the true path to achieving social justice. The Shaikhantaur Regional Court sentenced the 23-year-old Mehliboyev to seven years in prison on February 18, 2003, after convicting him of anti-constitutional activities, participating in extremist religious organizations, and inciting religious hatred, according to local and international press reports.

Ortikali Namazov
Arrested: August 11, 2004
Namazov, editor of the state newspaper Pop Tongi (Dawn of the Pop District) and correspondent for the state newspaper Kishlok Khayoti (Agricultural Life), was imprisoned while standing trial on embezzlement charges. He was later convicted of the charges-which local sources say were politically motivated-and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. The 53-year-old journalist was sentenced for embezzling 14 million som (US$13,500) from Pop Tongi. The charges were filed after he wrote a series of articles about alleged abuses in local tax inspections and collective-farm management. The Turakurgan District Criminal Court convicted Namazov on August 16. Local authorities reportedly harassed the journalist’s family during the August trial, cutting his home telephone line and firing his daughter from her job as a school doctor.