Prisoner of conscience released in Uzbekistan
Posted: September 14, 2007
Umida Niazova (right) leaving prison in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on May 8, 2007.
Photo: MUKHAMMADSHARIF MAMATKULOV/AFP/Getty Images
Prisoner of conscience Umida Niazova was released in Uzbekistan on May 8, 2007 after she appealed a seven-year prison sentence given to her a week earlier. Amnesty International regarded her trial as unfair.
In December, 2006, Umida Niazova was detained at Taskkent Airport after returning from a human rights seminar in Kyrgyzstan. Police confiscated her laptop computer and found a human rights report on it.
Amnesty members around the world sent cards of encouragement and support to Umida Niazova and her cousin Shafoat Zakirova.
“I am so thankful for... the support that was shown to Umida and to us, her family,” said Shafoat Zakirova. “The letters that are sent to us give us hope and help us believe in goodness.”