8 leading human rights organisations today published an open letter to the Special Representative of the European Union for Central Asia, expressing their concern at the torture and ill-treatment in prison of Uzbek human rights defender Yusuf Juma.
According to a recent statement by Uznews writer Yusuf Juma, who was locked up in the Jaslyk prison in northern Karakalpakstan, has now been placed in an information vacuum and is not allowed to see his relatives or lawyer.
Front Line is deeply concerned following the sentencing of human rights defender Yusuf Juma to five years' imprisonment on 15 April 2008. Yusuf Juma is a prominent writer and pro-democracy activist in Uzbekistan. He was arrested along with his sons, Bobur and Mashrab, in the Tashkent region in mid-December 2007 and he has been detained in the Otbozor Prison in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan.
Front Line is deeply concerned following reports of the continued torture and ill-treatment of imprisoned human rights defender and writer Yusuf Juma and his sons Bobur and Mashrab Juma. Yusuf Juma is a prominent writer and pro-democracy activist in Uzbekistan. Yusuf, Bobur and Mashrab Juma were arrested in the Tashkent region in mid-December 2007 and are all detained in the Otbozor Prison in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan. Yusuf and Bobur Juma's lawyer, Ruhiddin Kamilov, has been threatened by the prison governor.
