Some human rights and non-governmental organizations of Uzbekistan released a statement earlier today on the state of health of Muhammed Bekjan, political prisoner in jail since 1999. Ex-chief editor of the newspaper Erk (publication of the namesake political party) and the brother of its leader Muhammed Salih, Bekjan was tried and found guilty of a conspiracy against the state.

The prisoner's wife Nina Bekjanova visited him in the Kassan Maximum Security Prison (Kashkadarja region). She says that Bekjan is kept in a solitary cell and regularly tortured. Practically no teeth left in his mouth, Bekjan cannot take food. He is sick with TB but wardens deny him medical assistance.

Bekjan's trial in 1999 was castigated by international human rights organizations for violation of elementary legal procedures.

The appeal "to do everything possible for Bekjan" and "to put the government of Uzbekistan under pressure to have it release Bekjan and other political prisoners" was forwarded to the International Federation of the Red Cross, UN High Commissar for Human Rights, OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, US Department of State, European Union, and Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.

© Ferghana.Ru