Subject: Imminent Execution: First Update to Urgent Action # UA 292/04 on
Uzbekistan
URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE
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Note: Please write on behalf of these people even though
you may not have received the original UA when issued on
October 15, 2004. Thanks!
25 October 2004
Further Information on UA 292/04 issued 15
October 2004
Death penalty/Fear of imminent execution
UZBEKISTAN
Sodik Kodirov (m), born 1974
Shukhrat Aripov (m), born 1969
Amnesty International has been able to confirm that
Shukhrat Aripov is alive on death row. Sodik Kodirov is
also believed to be alive. However, both men could be
executed at any time and appeals from the Urgent Action
network could save their lives.
Shukhrat Aripov's parents had official permission to visit
their son on 14 October. However, when they arrived they
were turned away by prison guards. Such refusal to grant a
visit to people with official permission to see a death row
prisoner has often indicated that the prisoner has been
executed. ''His parents were in a state of shock. Shukhrat's
father fell ill and couldn't leave the house for several days.
When they went to the prison again on 21 October to try to
find out whether their son was still alive prison officials
immediately granted them access to him'', said Mayra
Rakhmanova, a member of the Uzbekistan-based human
rights group Mothers against the Death Penalty and
Torture. ''We were surprised they were immediately given
access without any bureaucratic hurdles. It probably
happened because of international pressure.'' It was not
explained to his parents why they had not been allowed to
see him the previous week.
''When prison guards opened the door of his cell they didn't
tell him that it was to take him to see his parents. He
thought they were taking him to execution'', said Mayra
Rakhmanova.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In Uzbekistan neither death row prisoners nor their
relatives are informed of the date of the execution in
advance, denying them a last chance to say goodbye. The
prisoner's body is not given to the relatives for burial and
they are not told where he is buried.
In his February 2003 report following a visit to Uzbekistan,
the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Theo van Boven,
stated that the ''complete secrecy surrounding the date of
execution, the absence of any formal notification prior to
and after the execution and the refusal to hand over the
body for burial are believed to be intentional acts, fully
mindful of causing family members turmoil, fear and
anguish over the fate of their loved one(s).'' He described
the treatment of family members as ''malicious and
amounting to cruel and inhuman treatment''.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the President to grant clemency to Shukhrat
Aripov, Sodik Kodirov and all other death row prisoners;
- stating that you know of 14 cases in which death row
prisoners were executed even though the UN Human
Rights Committee had asked the Uzbek authorities to stay
their executions while it considered their cases;
- urging the authorities to give you guarantees that nobody
will be executed whose case is under consideration by the
Committee;
- urging the authorities to promptly introduce a moratorium
on death sentences and executions;
- urging the authorities to end the cruel and inhuman
treatment of relatives of death row prisoners resulting from
the secrecy surrounding the application of the death
penalty.
Please note that it may be difficult to send faxes. If a
voice answers during office hours, repeat 'fax' until
connected; fax machines may be switched off outside
office hours (Easter Daylight Time +10 hours)
President of Uzbekistan:
Islam Abduganiyevich KARIMOV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700163 g. Tashkent
ul. Uzbekistanskaya, 43
Rezidentsia prezidenta
Prezidentu RU; KARIMOVU I.A.
UZBEKISTAN
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Sodik Solihovich SAFOYEV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700029 g. Tashkent
pl. Mustakillik, 5
Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU
Ministru Safoyevu, S.S.
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
General Procurator of the Republic of Uzbekistan:
0Rashidjon Hamidovich KODIROV
Respublika Uzbekistan
700047 g. Tashkent
ul. Gulyamova, 66
Prokuratura Respubliki Uzbekistan
Generalnomu prokuroru KODIROVU R. Kh
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 133 39 17
Salutation: Dear Procurator General
Ambassador Abdoulaziz Kamilov
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
1746 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20036-1903
Fax: 1 202 293 6804
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the
Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm,
Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after
December 6, 2004.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human
rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept
intact, including contact information and stop
action date (if applicable). Thank you for your
help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [email protected]
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE
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