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Human Rights Watch Endorses U.N. Recommendations on Torture of Muslims in Uzbekistan
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| U.N. calls on Uzbek government to take immediate steps towards addressing torture of Muslims, political opponents.
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WASHINGTON,
May 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Human Rights Watch
welcomed Monday, May 13, the United Nations Committee Against Torture
recommendations on the use of torture against Muslims in Uzbekistan,
published May 8, calling on the Uzbek government to take immediate
steps towards rectifying the situation.
The
U.N. body of ten independent experts published its conclusions and
recommendations for Uzbekistan following its periodic review of that
country's compliance with the U.N. Convention against Torture.
Uzbekistan became a party to the convention in 1995.
The
committee was lauded by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which stated that
the body “expressed concern about the numerous, ongoing and
consistent allegations of particularly brutal acts of torture by law
enforcement personnel.”
The
committee's conclusions and recommendations cited the “numerous”
convictions based on confessions and the use of the criterion of
“solved crimes” as the basis for promoting law enforcement
personnel.
The
committee's recommendations, carried by HRW website, called upon the
Uzbek government to:
·
"Review cases of convictions based solely on confessions in the
period since Uzbekistan became a party to the Convention, recognizing
that many of these may have been obtained through torture or
ill-treatment, and, as appropriate, provide prompt and impartial
investigation and take appropriate remedial measures";
·
"Ensure that those who complain of torture and their witnesses
are protected from retaliation"; · "Ensure in practice
absolute respect for the principle of the inadmissibility of evidence
obtained by torture";
·
"Adopt measures to permit detainees access to a lawyer, doctor,
and family members from the time when they are taken into custody, and
ensure that doctors will be provided at the request of detained
persons, rather than at the permission of prison officials";
·
"Improve conditions in prisons and pre-trial detention centers,
and establish a system allowing for unannounced inspections of
pre-trial detention centers and prisons by credible impartial
investigators, whose findings should be made public";
·
"Take urgent and effective steps (i) to establish a fully
independent complaints mechanism, outside the procuracy, for persons
who are held in official custody, and (ii) to ensure prompt, impartial
and full investigations into the many allegations of torture reported
to the authorities, and the prosecution and punishment, as
appropriate, of perpetrators."
Human
Rights Watch, which had been pushing the committee to look into
allegations of torture, issued a statement Monday, May 13, expressing
its support for the recommendations issued by the Committee Against
Torture, and specifically commented on the force of the language used.
“Using
unusually strong language, the committee called on the Uzbek
government to review all convictions handed down since 1995 that were
based solely on confessions, recognizing that they may have been
coerced through torture,” HRW cited in their statement.
"The
committee leaves no doubt that torture is a serious problem in
Uzbekistan. Now the Uzbek government must follow through on the
committee's recommendations to stop the daily acts of torture
committed by its officials," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive
Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of HRW.
HRW
had sent a letter of concern to the U.N. Committee Against Torture
prior to their meeting outlining issues concerning what HRW called
“unconstrained use of torture and corresponding immunity” on the
part of the Uzbek government.
The
group relayed that it bases its charges on over 4 years of research
beginning in 1999 and that it has found growing use of systematic
torture being used against Muslims.
“In
1999, systematic torture has already become an unmistakable feature of
the crackdown on independent Islam, intensifying following a series of
bomb explosions in the capital Tashkent in February 1999. At that
time, the government began a campaign to arrest thousands of men, in
particular members of the political opposition and independent
Muslims, accusing them, of political offenses,” HRW stated.
The
human rights organization has also specifically cited the cracking
down on Muslim women by the Uzbek government.
HRW
went on to state that the four-year study documented the routine
physical and psychological torture of detainees, most often in
pre-trial custody. It also listed the forms of torture as including
prolonged beatings via punching, kicking, and clubbing; as well
strangulation through the use of gas masks or plastic bags; electric
shock; burning; cutting; sexual violence; and the denial of food and
water.
HRW
also went on to assert that Uzbek law enforcement and judicial
agencies “tolerate the implementation of torture” and that
interview with former detainees, attorneys, relatives of prisoners,
and formal proceedings of dozens of trials substantiated the
systematic use of torture.
HRW
also commented that such practices “encourage the use of torture and
ill treatment to force detainees to confess.”
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/05/uzbek-0513.htm
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