Muslim prisoner of conscience Khasan Abdirakhimov, jailed since November 2021, awaits a new criminal trial for allegedly distributing Islamic material that the authorities claim constitutes "a threat to public security and public order". Police completed the investigation on 16 February. Abdirakhimov faces up to a further eight years jail if convicted. Police Investigator Nurullo Norkulov, who leads the case, refused to discuss it. Abdirakhimov s wife Iroda Nekboyeva says he did not appeal against the court verdict that sent him to prison as police said he would be released soon if he did not "make a noise". "But apparently we were all deceived and now they opened a new case and want to give him a long sentence."
A Tashkent court jailed Muslim prisoner of conscience Fazilkhoja Arifkhojayev for seven and half years in a labour camp for criticising state-appointed imams. He was repeatedly tortured, including after his defence lawyer Sergey Mayorov lodged formal complaints about the torture. The judge ignored his torture. "The torturers continue with impunity," Mayorov observed. The Supreme Court upheld in absentia Odilbek Khojabekov s five year labour camp sentence for returning from the haj pilgrimage with Islamic literature, and he is now in hiding. The National Guard has arrested Alimardon Sultonov for criticising the President and state-appointed imams.
Officials are harassing an 18-year-old Muslim from Tashkent who wears the hijab. The family complained to the President and others about her being added to the Preventative Register. Police told neighbours that the authorities do not like her and warned them not to associate with her. Muslim men who have had their beards forcibly shaved have also been added to the Preventative Register. "Muslims are indignant that the state is attacking their beards and hijab, which is a very private matter for each individual," one Muslim told Forum 18. After anti-beard and –hijab talks in colleges, a Higher Education Ministry official claimed that "students will not be punished for a beard or hijab".
Police raided the home of Tashkent Muslim Laziz Asadov, seizing two Korans. The search warrant claimed he is implicated in a criminal case against a man he does not know and that they watched speeches criticising Uzbekistan s regime and complaining that Muslims have no freedom. He fled abroad. The criminal trial of Muslim prisoner of conscience Fazilkhoja Arifkhojayev might begin in Tashkent on 10 January. He "will probably be given a prison term for crimes he did not commit," says his brother Jamol. Police refused to discuss the latest torture, or whether the suspect torturers are being brought to justice in line with Uzbekistan s human rights obligations.