Why isn’t George Bush screaming about this human rights violation?
He screams about Saddam, yet ignores human right violations and torture in Uzbekistan. What a guy.
Fatima Mukhadirova, 63, is the mother of a man who died in prison, allegedly after he was immersed in boiling water and otherwise tortured.
She was arrested after she drew attention to her son’s death and charged with trying to undermine the constitution of Uzbekistan.
The judge handed down a maximum sentence of six years in a hard prison.
Uzbekistan is a close ally of the United States, and the US embassy sent a local monitor to the trial.
But there was no official US outcry at all. Why is this?
Following the 11 September attacks on the US, President Karimov won favour with Washington by allowing its forces a base in Uzbekistan affording ready access across the Afghan border. US aid has increased. Human rights observers have voiced mounting fears that it has become harder to focus international attention on the many reported cases of abuse and torture.
Whoa, could it have something to do with oil too?
But, in the 1990s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union coincided with the re-discovery of the energy resources of the Caspian Sea, attracting a range of international oil companies including American majors to the region.
Big surprise, huh?