Tashkent Refuses Info About Asylum Seekers Expelled from Kazakhstan

Uzbek security services are refusing to confirm the arrival in Uzbekistan of the 28 Uzbek asylum seekers expelled from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan on 9 June.

The extradition of Uzbek religious asylum seekers from Kazakhstan drew protests from human rights organizations and describing the Kazakh government’s decision as illegal.

The extradition of the asylum seekers, who had been held in detention in Almaty since June 2010, during this period they had been moved to an unknown location and lately A Kazakh Foreign Ministry official confirmed that Uzbek asylum seekers had been extradited to Uzbekistan.

A spokesmen for the Kazakh Foreign Ministry told Human Rights Watch that Uzbekistan had provided diplomatic assurances that the expelled men would not be subject to torture.

Rachel Denber, Human Rights Watch deputy director: “The Kazakh government has deliberately and forcibly sent individuals back to Uzbekistan, where they face likely torture and persecution.”</em>This appalling move sets a terrible precedent throughout the region. Members of the international community should waste no time in condemning this in the strongest terms.”