Yusuf Juma, an Uzbek poet imprisoned in 2008, has reportedly been released after petitioning President Islam Karimov for a pardon, the semi-official Russian-language news site uzmetronom.com reported today.
Juma, who was born in Bukhara, has been writing poetry since high school, taking up controversial themes like destruction of the environment and the government's oppressive rule. After writing some poems about the Andijan massacre and staging some protests about these events as well as the arrest of his son, he himself was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to five years of prison on charges of insulting government officials, resisting government representatives, and assault. His lawyers and human rights groups said the case was fabricated in retaliation for his civic activism.
In 2008, when Juma's daughter was granted a meeting with him in the notorious Jaslyk prison, she issued a statement that she feared he had suffered torture and was in ill health.
Juma's relatives picketed the Uzbek Embassy in Washington in 2009, urging his release, and international human rights groups repeatedly asked the US and European Union to intervene on his behalf.
His case was taken up by International PEN, and the Real Union of Journalists in Uzbekistan (who distinguish themselves from the state-controlled union).
Uzmetronom.com often publishes news -- and rumors -- sourced from unidentified officials within the Uzbek government. On this story, uzmetronom.com is making the unconfirmed claim that Juma was released after recanting and appealing to the Uzbek president for a pardon. Reportedly he will be allowed to emigrate from Uzbekistan to join his wife in the US.
Juma's release is said to be an act of clemency tied to the forthcoming 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan's independence September 1.
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