The Byzantine ‘Ethics’ Of Uzbek Bathroom Breaks, Handshakes, YouTube Posts

A a new code of conduct for Uzbek university students was released this month.

Loafing around, that time-honored pastime of college students everywhere, is verboten. “Don’t walk around a university campus with no reason,” the rulebook advises.

How all of this contributes to the effort against religious extremism and drug addiction is never quite made clear…[READ MORE]

Uzbek Fun Police Shut Down Winter Swimming Club

Tashkent’s Walrus Club for cold-weather swimming has been an Uzbek landmark since 1952. Now authorities are saying the party is over…[READ MORE]

Uzbekistan’s Rights Record: ‘Atrocious On Every Level’

When Obitkhoja O., a 17-year old Uzbek boy, was arrested in 2009 for alleged petty theft, he had little idea what kind of police interrogation he was in for. Officers handcuffed his wrists and ankles and tossed him around in the air; he was kicked repeatedly in the head while bound to a chair; and police tied a gas mask tightly around his head to induce asphyxiation.

Obitkhoja’s story is just one of many that appear in a groundbreaking new report from Human Rights Watch, “No One Left to Witness,” documenting the deterioration of basic rights in the secretive nation of Uzbekistan. The report is based on hundreds of first-hand interviews with Uzbek human rights activists, lawyers, and government officials. It paints a grim portrait of a regime in which brutal torture is routinely employed as a pre-trial detention procedure for both political prisoners and common criminals…

Steve Swerdlow, a researcher for Human Rights Watch and the author of the report, visited RFE/RL’s Prague offices December 9 to discuss the report’s findings. He says that torture has become a vehicle for advancement among members of the country’s security services…[Read More]

Read more about the Human Rights Watch report here.  

Karimova Sisters Said Down $200 Million

Even princesses aren’t immune to economic downturns…[READ MORE]

‘Alternative’ Energy Fuels Central Asia

Soaring fuel prices; electricity rationing; early snow — it’s enough to send people scurrying for alternative ways to heat their homes and cook their meals.

In some parts of Central Asia, however, “alternative” doesn’t necessarily mean clean burning or eco-friendly. In Uzbekistan, cheap is the operative word, and that means things can get downright, well, earthy.

“Coal is fuel for rich people only,” says Eshmurod-Aka, a resident of Uzbekistan’s Qashqadaryo province. “Animal manure is the only fuel we use now.”