Kyrgyzstan: No forced return to Uzbekistan
On 9 August, the Uzbekistani journalist Bobomurod Abdullayev was arrested in Bishkek by officials of the State Committee for State Security of Kyrgyzstan. Civil Rights Defenders, together with several human rights organisations, urges the Kyrgyzstani authorities to protect him from forced return to Uzbekistan, where he would be at real risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
In Uzbekistan, the journalist is wanted on what appear to be trumped-up anti-government charges carrying a punishment of up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
