While we were celebrating Memorial Day this past Monday, Mr. Salijon Abdurakhmanov, an outspoken journalist from Uzbekistan, spent his 62nd birthday in prison colony 64/61 in Karshi city far away from his family and friends.
Mr. Abdurakhmanov is an independent journalist known for his reporting on social and economic justice, human rights, and corruption in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2008 on fabricated drug charges. There are serious grounds to believe that the Uzbek government imprisoned Mr. Abdurakhmanov for his human rights activism. His arrest and trial were conducted in flagrant violation of the Uzbek government’s obligations under international law.
Freedom Now represents Mr. Abdurakhmanov as pro bono international legal counsel.