URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE
Note: Please write on behalf of this person even
though you may not have received the original UA when
issued on January 13, 2003. Thanks!
8 April 2005
Further Information on EXTRA 05/03 issued 15 January
2003 and re-issued 18 March 2005; 29 April 2004; 24
June 2003; 7 March 2003 - Death penalty
UZBEKISTAN: Farid Nasibullin (m ), aged 31
Amnesty International has learnt that a prisoner on
death row, Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev, was executed at
the beginning of March, even though the Uzbekistani
authorities assured the United Nations (UN) Human
Rights Committee that he was still alive on 21 March
2005. This heightens fears that Farid Nasibullin could
be executed at any time.
On 6 April Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev's father
received a death certificate confirming that his son
had been executed five weeks earlier, on 1 March. On
21 March, members of the UN Human Rights Committee had
questioned Uzbekistani government representatives
about allegations that the execution had taken place,
despite an earlier request by the Committee for a stay
of execution. The government representatives had
insisted that Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev was still
alive. The fact that Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev had
not been the subject of mass international appeals
appears to have been a decisive factor in his death.
Farid Nasibullin is one of eight people on death row
on whose behalf the UN Human Rights Committee has
requested a stay of execution while it considers
whether their cases have violated key provisions of
the International Covenant for Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR). The Uzbekistani authorities are
obliged to comply with the Committee's requests, and
gave assurances to the Committee that all eight were
alive. However, as the authorities have blatantly
disregarded their international obligations by
executing Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev, there are no
longer any guarantees that they will respect the
Committee's request to stay any of these executions.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Uzbekistani authorities told the (UN) Human Rights
Committee in March 2005 that during 2003 and 2004 they
had executed a total of 15 death row prisoners on
whose behalf the UN Human Rights Committee had
intervened. Uzbekistan has ratified the first Optional
Protocol to the ICCPR, and has therefore committed
itself to follow the recommendations of the UN Human
Rights Committee, including requests for stays of
execution.
According to a statement by President Islam Karimov on
2 December 2004, between 50 and 60 people were
sentenced to death during that year. However, in
violation of Uzbekistan's international obligations,
the country has never published comprehensive
statistics on the numbers of death sentences and
executions. Relatives and death row prisoners
themselves are not informed of the date of execution
in advance. The location of the burial sites of
executed prisoners is kept secret, compounding the
anguish of their relatives.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible:
- urging the President to commute the death sentence
of Farid Nasibullin and all other prisoners on death
row;
- expressing dismay that official assurances that
Akhrorkhuzha Tolipkhuzhaev was still alive were given
to the UN Human Rights Committee when he had in fact
been executed three weeks earlier;
- expressing serious concern that Farid Nasibullin,
and seven other death row prisoners on whose behalf
the UN Human Rights Committee has intervened, may also
have been executed;
- urging the authorities to provide tangible proof
that Farid Nasibullin and the other seven are still
alive;
- urging the authorities to prove that they are
upholding their obligations as a party to the first
Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which include
honouring the Committee's requests for stays of
execution.
APPEALS TO:
(Please note that it can be difficult getting through
to fax numbers in Uzbekistan. If a voice answers,
repeat 'fax' until you hear the signal; otherwise
leave your fax machine on auto-redial if possible. Fax
machines may be switched off outside office hours - 10
hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Savings Time):
President :
Islam A. KARIMOV,
Rezidentsia prezidenta
ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43
Tashkent 700163
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17 (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
Please write for the attention of President Karimov at
the top of your fax)
Email: presidents_off...@press-service.uz
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
Minister of Internal Affairs:
Zakirzhan ALMATOV
Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del RU, ul. Novruz , 1
Tashkent 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 133 89 34
Salutation: Dear Minister Almatov
Head of the National Centre for Human Rights:
Akmal Saidov
Natsionalny tsentr po pravam cheloveka
5/3, Mustakillik Maidoni
g. Tashkent
Respublika Uzbekistan 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 13 56 / 139 45 16
E-mail: off...@nchr.uz
Salutation: Dear Senator Saidov
COPIES TO:
Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Eler GANIEV
Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU
pl. Mustakillik, 5
Tashkent 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: 011 998 71 139 15 17
Email: let...@mfa.uz
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 May 20,
2005.
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: u...@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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