 Professional Background
Dzamshid Karimov is a journalist who has been held in psychiatric
detention for over a year. He is known for being an outspoken critic
of the government, and for his reporting on socio-political issues as a
contributor to independent journals and web sites. He is also the
nephew of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
Current Status
The Uzbek authorities have apparently confirmed that Karimov is in
psychiatric confinement, without specifying the reason, calling it a
“private” matter. In September 2006, a six-month psychiatric detention
order was served on him. It was renewed in March 2007, expiring in
September 2007. While it was hoped he would be freed then, further
information has not reached PEN.
Case History
Karimov reported on the May 2005 incident in which troops killed
antigovernment protesters in the northeastern city of Andijan. Most
recently, he worked as a contributor to the Almaty-based independent
online newspaper Liter. According to Uznews, Karimov wrote about social
and economic problems as a freelancer.
Following his coverage of the demonstrations and reporting on the
killing of civilians in the city of Andijan, local authorities began
monitoring Karimov’s activities. In early August 2006, his mother
petitioned authorities to remove all listening devices from her house;
they refused. In fact, law enforcement agents set up more surveillance
equipment in a neighboring building, the Moscow-based Central Asia news
Web site Ferghana reported. The family’s long-distance telephone
connections had been cut. Also in August, Karimov’s passport was seized
by the authorities in Jizzakh after he applied for an exit visa to
attend a journalism seminar in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
On August 31, the head of the regional administration, Ubaidulla
Yamankulov, visited the family home and offered Karimov positions at
the state newspapers Mulkdor and Tasvir. Karimov refused the offer,
according to the reports.
Karimov went missing for two weeks in mid September 2006,
after a visit to his elderly mother in the hospital. He was eventually
found in a psychiatric hospital in the capital Samarkand, where he
remains under successive psychiatric detention orders. |
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