Uzbekistan: journalist quarantined for dissenting view
The editor-in-chief of the publishing office Adabiyet Gazetasi (Literary Newspaper) Bakhtiyor Karim is quarantined since July 6. His colleagues are more than sure about the political background of the isolation. It’s all because of the interview’s release on the country’s development. Independent journalists and activists showed alarm, addressing the country’s leadership and international organizations. Independent journalists and activists raised the alarm, addressing the country’s leadership and international organizations.
They raised a serious concern over the use by the authorities of quarantine measures to unreasonably keep the representative of the political opposition Bakhtiyor Karim in the special zone. The journalist became one of the activists of the unregistered opposition Social Democratic party “Justice and Progress”. The party is formed around the professor Xidirnazar Olloqulov, former rector of Termez State University.
Two days after the interview with him, the journalist and his family were unexpectedly placed in a quarantine camp for 14 days for observation. The reason was the case of coronavirus infection at his son’ work. At the end of the quarantine term, everyone was allowed to go home, except for Bakhtiyor Karim. The head of the family was left for another two weeks for allegedly additional observation. The delay was explained by the fact that the journalist during the quarantine period communicated with the infected person.
The signatories of the appeal are sure that “all this gives reason to believe that Karim’s COVID19-positive certificate is nothing more than a fabrication and falsification ordered by biased individuals in order to impede journalistic and political activities.”
Earlier, ACCA posted about the forced interruption by the authorities of the Namangan region of monitoring the use of child labor on cotton plantations. On June 7, a group of activists in the Papsky District was beaten and detained by law enforcement officers. Then the human rights activists were taken to the local sanitary and epidemiological service, where they were forced to take tests for Covid-19. After forced procedures, female activists felt not well and the doctors called an ambulance. At the request of law enforcement, emergency doctors refused to confirm in writing the signs of the beatings.
After bullying, human rights defenders were taken home and banned from leaving their place of residence for 14 days as they are considered COVID-19 positive.
