As Britain’s outspoken Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, Craig Murray helped expose vicious human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of Islam Karimov. He is now a prominent critic of Western policy in the region.
He was fired for his trouble, after exposing the US/British policy of sending prisoners there to be tortured, sometimes by immersion in boiling water. After months of legal battles his book, Murder in Samarkland, has been published.
Murder in Samarkand has finally been released after ten months in legal limbo. Amazon is posting it out today. Bookshops are still a bit wary of taking it into stock as we wait to see if the FCO carries out its threat to take legal action once published.
More from Lenin’s Tomb, an advance reader of the book, who notes that parts of the documentation are only available online.
Even though many of these documents were secured for release under the Freedom of Information Act, the government argues that they remain the property of the Crown and may not be published: hence, the publisher could not include them for fear of prosecution. Still, the internet is a wonderful invention…
[tags]Craig Murray[/tags]
This is an important book – and a jolly good read, too. Murray’s account of the political machinations of the FCO is pretty grim reading but much more disturbing is his graphic description of the appalling Karimov regime. The sheer barbarity portrayed in some passages makes one wonder whether any civilised country should have any dealings at all with the Uzbek government (a government which is extensively supported by the USA).
Please note that the British government is taking legal action against Murray for having published these documents. See my blog for the letter and e-mail exchange with the government’s solicitor. International blogs should face no legal difficulties in *mirroring* the documents from Murray’s site and putting them up for general view, of course.
[…] From the comments to our post on the release of the book. Please note that the British government is taking legal action against Murray for having published these documents. See my blog [Leninology] for the letter and e-mail exchange with the government’s solicitor. International blogs should face no legal difficulties in *mirroring* the documents from Murray’s site and putting them up for general view, of course. […]