From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Aug 25 2000 - 10:27:08 EDT
UZBEK CLERGYMAN RISKS EXTRADITION
Uzbek Imam Khadji Khudjaev was arrested by Russian police in Omsk last weekend,
apparently at the request of the Uzbek authorities, and may
be extradited to Uzbekistan, where he faces charges of
involvement in the February 1999 Tashkent bombings, according
to an Amnesty International press release of 23 August.
Khudjaev fled Uzbekistan three years ago to escape Uzbek
police harassment of people thought to belong to independent
Islamic congregations. He then settled in the city of Ishim
in Tyumen Oblast. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's official government newspaper "Pravda
Vostoka"
published in its 24 August issued an Interior Ministry report
that puts the total number of people in the country's 47
prisons at 63,900, Reuters and AP reported. Thirty-six
percent of those were said to have been jailed for theft, and
24 percent for unspecified "serious crimes." The report said
that there are no political prisoners in Uzbekistan's jails.
Unconfirmed reports say that persons sentenced on political
charges or for their religious beliefs are generally
incarcerated in a vast prison camp (not a jail) southwest of
the Aral Sea. LF
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