Dilmurod Sayyid. Photo via Uznews.net
I just want to draw everyone's attention to the urgent case of Dilmurod Sayyid, an Uzbek journalist who exposed corruption in agribusiness in Uzbekistan and has been a political prisoner for many years. Committee to Protect Journalists has included him in their list of reporters jailed for their work.
I just saw on Twitteran appeal in Uzbek on the BBC World Service for Uzbekistan posted by Khayrullo Fayz (@xayrullofayz), an Uzbek journalist, who summarized it for me in a few lines in Russian.
The original Uzbek language story is here. Perhaps someone who reads Uzbek can supply more detail.
Khayrullo did give me a summary of a few lines in Russian.
As far as I understand, Sayyid's brother just visited him recently and found that he has lost 55 kilograms. He had already ill with tuberculosis. He has lost hope of getting out of prison.
As some may know, several years ago Dilmurod suffered the tragic loss of his wife and small daughter when they were killed in a car accident on their way to visit him. He was not allowed to attend the funeral. Dilmurod was sentenced in 2009 to 12.5 years in prison on charges said by human rights monitors to be fabricated.
The US and other Western governments do work quietly to get prisoners of conscience released in Uzbekistan and has had some success, even recently. So I hope some attention can get Dilmurod's name put forward and appeals going out on his behalf ASAP.
P.S. I've just found an English-language summary of the story here.
- In December, I was able to see my brother in a prison in Karshi . I was given a date for four hours. In October, he had his chest x-rayed, and the doctors said that the results came out good. Therefore, after the Sangorod he was not returned to the colony for tuberculosis patients in Navoi, but was transferred to a labor colony in Karshi. During the last meeting I prepared some mean, we sat and talked. But he ate almost nothing. Brother was very thin, weighs about 55-56 kilograms, and has become so small, his hair all white. Dilmurod said that he was working in the colony, perhaps he did not want to upset me and said that he was not given the hard work, - says Obid Saidov.
Note the difference between lost 55 kg and weighs 55 kg. This should be clarified but the bottom line is that he is very sick and has lost a lot of weight.
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