by CRAIG MURRAY

Former British Ambassador, Craig Murray, has published an explosive book on the human rights record in Uzbekistan. Here's an excerpt on what he saw and how he opened the lid on the situation

There were a fair number of Uzbek human rights activists in the audience, and they set up an expectant murmur as I walked to the microphone. Because of the cramped conditions, and because some of the auditors couldn’t see the speakers, there had been a buzz of background chat. But this died away as people caught the drift of what I was saying, and despite the inelegance of sequential interpretation into both Russian and Uzbek, by a few minutes into my speech you could have heard a pin drop.

This is what I said:

“I am most happy to be here today to join in Freedom House’s Open House. This is a welcome addition to the resources available to the community which is working to improve basic human rights here in Uzbekistan. The organizers are to be congratulated on the initiative, as are the U.S. government for their assistance with finance. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a Scot, and proud of my race. Our national poet, Robert Burns, notes in his great poem ‘The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer’ that ‘Freedom and whisky gang the gither’, which for those whose Scots is a wee bit rusty means ‘Freedom and whisky go together’. Well, we all know how difficult it is to find real whisky in Tashkent. It does exist, but mostly on diplomatic premises. There is still a lot of wisdom in old Robert.

“It is also a great pleasure to see such a gathering of those promoting human rights in Uzbekistan, both from outside and inside the country, and from both governmental and non-governmental sectors. I am also pleased to see representatives of the media here today—I trust I will see these proceedings fully and openly reported. Let us have no illusions about the size of the challenge we face. We must all agree that independent Uzbekistan had a great handicap to overcome in the very poor legacy on issues of freedom from the Soviet Union. But nonetheless this country has made very disappointing progress in moving away from the dictatorship of the Soviet period. Uzbekistan is not a functioning democracy, nor does it appear to be moving in the direction of democracy. The major political parties are banned; parlia ment is not subject to democratic election; and checks and balances on the authority of the executive are lacking.

“There is worse: we believe there to be between seven and ten thousand people in detention whom we would consider as political and/or religious prisoners. In many cases they have been falsely convicted of crimes with which there appears to be no credible evidence they had any connection. Reputable human rights groups such as HRW and Amnesty International have brought to our attention specific instances where the same crime is used serially to convict a number of people. There appears to be a belief that such persecution of an individual can be justified by labelling them as an “Islamic extremist”.

“Now, with the U.S. and other allies, the British government remains in the very forefront of the commitment to the war against terrorism. And we are most grateful for the invaluable assistance rendered to the coalition by the government of Uzbekistan in respect of operations in Afghanistan. We ack-nowledge that we face the same global threat. Nobody should seek to underestimate the genuine security concerns of the government of Uzbekistan and the difficulties it has faced in countering those who seek to use religion and the problems of poverty to promote terror. Uzbekistan’s strategic situation has put it in the forefront of countries struggling to deal with problems such as terrorism and narcotics trafficking. Cry Freedom!

“But let us make this point: no government has the right to use the war against terrorism as an excuse for the persecution of those with a deep personal commitment to the Islamic religion and who pursue their views by peaceful means. Sadly, the large majority of those wrongly imprisoned in Uzbekistan fall into this category. But it is not only Muslims who suffer; the British embassy yesterday observed the trial of a Jehovah’s Witness being prosecuted for pursuing his beliefs. It should not be a crime to practise your religion, nor to tell others about it. And a number of those imprisoned are ethnic Russian human rights defenders, colleagues of some of my audience. I would like to say at this point how deeply I admire you on a personal level. I am very conscious that I stand here in a very privileged position, in the literal sense. You, on the other hand, daily risk persecution to stand up for the rights of your fellow citizens. You have my deepest respect, and one day your countrymen will be in a position to show you their gratitude.

“Uzbekistan is to be congratulated on a good record of ratifying key U.N. Conventions on human rights; unfortunately, there appears to be a gap between obligation and practice. World attention has recently been focused on the prevalence of torture in Uzbek prisons. The terrible case of Avazov and Alimov, apparently tortured to death by boiling water, has evoked great international concern. But all of us know that this is not an isolated incident. Brutality is inherent in a system where convictions habitually rely on signed confessions rather than on forensic or material evidence. In the Uzbek criminal justice system, the conviction rate is almost 100 per cent. It is difficult not to conclude that once accused by the Procurator there is no effective possibility of fair trial in the sense we understand it.