Alisher Karamatov

Who is Alisher Karamatov?

Alisher Karamatov is a currently-imprisoned Uzbekistani rural development activist. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and named him a 2011 "priority case".

Before his arrest, Karmatov was an activist with the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan in Guliston, Sirdaryo Province. On 29 April 2006, Karmatov was arrested along with fellow activist Azam Farmonov and charged with extortion. The two later reported torture by security forces, including partial suffocation with a disconnected gas mask and beatings on the legs and heels. Human Rights Watch condemned the trial and stated that it "appear[ed] to be a politically motivated effort to stop their human rights work" in keeping with a recent pattern of suspicious charges against human rights workers. Front Line also described the arrests as politically motivated and "part of an ongoing campaign against human rights defenders in Uzbekistan". Amnesty International likewise condemned the charges and called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of Karamatov and Farmonov. Uzbekistani government officials, however, denied that the extortion charges were politically motivated.