Human rights activist from Andijan Gulbahor Turayeva arrested in Uzbekistan
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Ferghana.Ru correspondents report the arrest of Gulbahor Turayeva, human rights activist from Andijan, at Checkpoint Dustlik on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border on January 14.
Uzbek border guards grew suspicious of the literature found in Turayeva's luggage - materials on human rights and books by leaders of the Uzbek opposition. Turayeva was immediately arrested even though she was with her little child. Search of Turayeva's apartment by secret services failed to produce anything suspicious.
On January 16, Turayeva was escorted to Andijan for a more thorough investigation. Officers of the National Security Service are questioning her now.
Ferghana.Ru source in Uzbek law enforcement agencies claims that the case against Turayeva may be built around an attempt on her part to bring into the country the materials containing calls to overthrow the constitutional regime. (This is how any information critical of the authorities is viewed and treated in Uzbekistan.)
Following the massacre in Andijan on May 13, 2005, foreign media outlets interviewed forensic expert Turayeva on the demonstrators gunned down by the military and on the number of victims.
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Gulbahor Kamolovna Turayeva was born on November 4, 1962. The mother of four, she is a doctor by profession. Address: 31, 50, Residential Area 2, Andijan, phone number 263196. Inmate in the detention cell of the local office of the National Security Service in Andijan at this point.
Turayeva was returning home with her son from a day-long trip to the Kyrgyz city of Osh. Her luggage included the following books: Iimon Asiri (poems in Uzbek) by Rauf Parfi; Valfajr (poems in Uzbek) by Muhammad Salih; Iulnoma (in Uzbek) by Muhammad Salih; Publications (in Russian) by Muhammad Salih; and Yashash Hukuki (in Uzbek) by Maksud Bekjon.
Uzbek border guards proclaimed the books banned even though the list of banned literature does not actually exist. Turayeva was detained.
