AMNESTY FOR IKHTIYOR HAMROEV AND UMIDA NIYAZOVA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000152 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ SUBJECT: AMNESTY FOR IKHTIYOR HAMROEV AND UMIDA NIYAZOVA REF: A. 07 TASHKENT 2132 ¶B. 07 TASHKENT 927 ¶C. TASHKENT 126 ¶D. TASHKENT 131 Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (U) On February 3, the Uzbek language website of Radio Free Europe (www.ozodlik.org) reported that Ikhtiyor Hamroev, the son of well-known human rights defender Bakhtiyor Hamroev, had been amnestied and released from prison. The December 2007 amnesty was also applied to former Human Rights Watch (HRW) staffer and journalist Umida Niyazova, whose three-year suspended prison sentence was lifted. IKHTIYOR HAMROEV RELEASED FROM PRISON -------------- ¶2. (C) On February 4, Bakhtiyor Hamroev confirmed to poloff that his son Ikhtiyor had been amnestied and released from prison on February 2. He also provided poloff with a written statement, thanking the Embassies of Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, whose efforts he credited with his son's release. The statement also called on the United States and EU to continue to pressure the government into taking further steps, including releasing additional political and religious prisoners; releasing President Karimov's nephew Jamshid Karimov from psychiatric detention; and allowing monitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit Uzbek prisons. In addition, Hamroev sent poloff a photograph of Ikhtiyor at home with his parents. From the photo, it appears that Ikhtiyor is in good health. Ikhtiyor Hamroev was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on politically-motivated charges of hooliganism in September 2006. He was reportedly beaten by prison guards on several occasions in 2006 and 2007 (ref A). NIYAZOVA'S SUSPENDED SENTENCE LIFTED -------------- ¶3. (C) On February 4, poloff also spoke with former Human Rights Watch (HRW) staffer and journalist Umida Niyazova, who confirmed that she had been amnestied and her suspended sentence had been lifted. She was obviously pleased with the government's decision, and promised to visit the Embassy within the next few days to talk further. In their last few conversations, Niyazova told poloff that she hoped to be amnestied so that she would be able to travel freely again with her young son to Prague, where her common-law husband works for Radio Free Europe. Niyazova was originally sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in May 2007 on politically-motivated charges, including illegal border crossing and disseminating materials that threaten public order. A few days later, an appeals court commuted her prison term to three years' probation (ref B). COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) The amnesties of Ikhtiyor Hamroev and Umida Niyazova come as a welcome surprise, as they were not included among a group of political prisoners whose amnesty is rumored to be forthcoming (ref C). In fact, poloff had heard from numerous contacts - including Niyazova herself (ref A) - that authorities had already told her that she would not be amnestied this year. ¶5. (C) Ironically, a day before Ikhtityor Hamroev's release from prison, the website of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) posted an article detailing the recent visit of Admiral William J. Fallon entitled "Wooing Karimov 'Hurts Democracy' in Central Asia." Quoting a Tashkent-based political analyst and a U.S.-based Human Rights Watch analyst, the article portrays any rapprochement between the United States and the Uzbek government as likely to come at the expense of efforts to promote democratization and human rights in the region. However, the recent release of political prisoners, as well as other positive steps the government has taken in regards to civil society (ref D), demonstrate that increased engagement with the government has the potential to improve, not worsen, the human rights situation within Uzbekistan. That said, the focus of human rights advocacy must be an end to torture and abuse and not simply amnesties of those who should not ever have been arrested. ¶6. (C) The "political analyst" quoted in the IWPR article, Tashpulat Yuldashev, is not a serious political analyst and his views should be taken with a large dose of cynicism. Recently, Yuldashev threatened to poloff that he would denounce the United States "at every opportunity" unless the Embassy provided him with political asylum, which we declined to do as we have not seen any credible evidence that he faces persecution in Uzbekistan (however, during a meeting with the Ambassador on January 30, Swiss Ambassador Peter Burkhard said that his Embassy was considering a request for asylum from Yuldashev). From the IWPR article, it now appears that Yuldashev is starting to make good on his threat. NORLAND