Our groups letters of concern helped release Yusuf Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan
Yusuf Dzhumaev was detained on the basis of accusations by relatives that he had published and distributed materials, as well as poems, in which he called upon the population of Uzbekistan to conduct holy jihad, which is considered a grave crime against the country and the whole world on the basis of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek poet was arrested and tortured following the confiscation of his poems. The father of six children, was arrested at his home on October 23, 2001, by officers of the National Security Service (SNB). The officers confiscated Mr. Dzhumaev’s poems, his daughter’s poems, and books by Uzbek writers.
The SNB apparently told him that he was being arrested in connection with the publication of his poems on a Muslim website that authorities reportedly considered to be subversive. Based on these allegations, Mr. Dzhumaev is said to have been charged with “undermining the constitutional order.” He was reportedly tortured while held in the basement of the SNB detention facility in Bukhara.
Representatives of several independent human rights organizations in Uzbekistan believe that Yusuf Dzhumaev was arrested because he had openly criticized a number of officials in the Karakul district of the Bukhara region, and accused some of them of corruption.
The Global Importune letter signing group began sending letters of concern on behalf of Yusuf Dzhumaev to officials in the government of Azerbaijan sometime around January 2002.
He was released on December 29, 2011.
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