Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DUBLIN731
2006-06-22 16:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dublin
Cable title:  

UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST PRESENTED AWARD IN

Tags:  PHUM PREL PGOV UZ ZK PINS EI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7619
PP RUEHAG
DE RUEHDL #0731/01 1731608
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221608Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DUBLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7122
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES PRIORITY
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 0042
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0007
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT PRIORITY 0008
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0042
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 000731 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/CACEN NNICOLAIDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV UZ ZK PINS EI
SUBJECT: UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST PRESENTED AWARD IN
DUBLIN

REF: 6-20-06 EMAIL OLSON-ROSENBERGER

Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Mary E. Daly, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

Madumarov receives human rights defender award in Dublin
--------------------------------------------- ------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 000731

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/CACEN NNICOLAIDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV UZ ZK PINS EI
SUBJECT: UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST PRESENTED AWARD IN
DUBLIN

REF: 6-20-06 EMAIL OLSON-ROSENBERGER

Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Mary E. Daly, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

Madumarov receives human rights defender award in Dublin
-------------- --------------


1. (U) On June 16, Uzbek national Ahmadjan (aka Akhmadian)
Madumarov was named as the recipient of the second annual
Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk for his
work as an activist in Uzbekistan. According to the Irish
NGO Front Line, Mr. Madumarov, of the Independent Human
Rights Organization of Uzbekistan (NOPCHU),has been working
as a human rights defender for over 30 years despite
continued threats from the GOU and the incarceration of five
members of his family. In the award ceremony, Front Line
alleged that since bomb attacks in Tashkent in 1999 and
ensuing government crackdowns on Islamic extremists, there
has been no freedom of religion in Uzbekistan. Front Line
praised Madumarov's courage in overcoming the pervasive
climate of fear and his advocacy for those arrested and
tortured (allegedly for religious practice rather than for
evidence of illegal activity). In retaliation for his human
rights work, Front Line believes that the Uzbekistan
government has threatened him, limited his movements, kept
him under continued surveillance and targeted his family.
According to ceremony officials, the GOU imprisoned three of
his sons and two of his nephews for terms between six and 19
years, accusing him and his family of membership in the
banned Islamic political organization, Hizb-u-Tahrir. In
2000, according to a Front Line statement, the Deputy Head of
the Margilan (Eastern Uzbekistan) Militia told Madumarov to
"stop your human rights activity, and we will let your sons
alone. We will stop torturing them. Maybe we will help them
to be freed."

Threats to Madumarov
--------------


2. (C) Madumarov did not inform the GOU of his travel to
Ireland. According to Front Line, he is afraid of the
consequences that he and his family may face upon his pending
return to Uzbekistan. It is Front Line's hope that raising
his international profile will apply pressure on the GOU to
properly address the concerns of Madumarov and his family.
(Note: Madumarov left Ireland on June 17. According to U.S.
Embassy Tashkent, Madumarov's associates in Tashkent do not
expect him to return to Uzbekistan in the near term. His
current whereabouts are unknown to Embassy Dublin).

Front Line Annual Awards
--------------


3. (U) Front Line, an Irish NGO, claims that it was founded
because no other organization existed which worked
exclusively "for the protection and security needs of human
rights defenders." It aims to:

--raise the international profile of individual defenders;
--focus global attention on government repression of
liberties;
--provide equipment such as computers, cameras, bulletproof
vests, and emergency aid to defenders;
--bring defenders to Ireland for training seminars or simply
to rest and recover from their work;
--network defenders and activists with each other and
responsible government officials.


4. (U) Last year's inaugural award went to Dr. Ibrahim
Mudawi, an activist in Sudan who wrote in a letter to this
year's winner that receiving the award provided him with more
protection from the GOS because it focused global attention
on actions of the Sudanese government. Runners-up to this
year's award included:
--Soraya Gutierrez Arguello. Arguello, of Colombia, is
president of the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, an
NGO which promotes human rights and fights impunity through
legal work.
--Mohammed Abbou. Abbou, of Tunisia, is a prominent human
rights lawyer currently in prison for publishing statements
on the Internet that called attention to abuses in the
Tunisian prison system.
--Aini Abukar Ga'al. Ga'al of Somalia, is a peace officer of
the Coalition of Grassroots Women's Organizations working for
social, political, and economic empowerment of Somali women.


DUBLIN 00000731 002 OF 002







* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit Dublin's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/dublin/index. cfm
KENNY