Uzbekistan: Persecution carries on despite positive changes

Uzbekistan | 17 June 2018

Since the death of President Karimov in September 2017, Uzbekistan has seen some positive changes. As reported by Radio Free Europe on 18 May 2018, besides freeing prisoners of conscience from the Karimov era, new President Mirziyoev has improved ties with all of Uzbekistan's neighbors, promised to end forced labor in the cotton fields during harvest time and torture in detention centers and prisons, and has publicly removed unpopular officials from the previous administration. Control over state media has loosened somewhat, allowing room for some criticism of ineffective policies and of lower-level officials. But there are still questions about how far Mirziyoev is willing to go. Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, agrees that Uzbekistan has become different since the days under President Karimov: "Although authoritarian repression is decreasing, it does not mean that there is freedom - but there is definitely a previously unknown level of relaxation. These developments, however, have not yet had any impact on the freedom of religion. A good example of this is the 24 May 2018 report from Forum 18, which describes the following incidents: 1) Police raided and threatened Baptists in Urgench with criminal prosecution for meeting at Easter; 2) Secret police raided Baptists at worship in Mubarek, leading to two Christians being fined; 3) In Karshi, police targeted hearing and speech impaired Baptists; 4) A member of Jehovah's Witnesses was fined when he went to the authorities to enquire about official state registration in Samarkand. These incidents show that it is yet too early to claim that persecution in Uzbekistan is decreasing. The examples of Forum 18 clearly indicate that the relaxation occurring in some areas of society has not yet reached the Christian community and other faiths."