Mutabar Tadjibayeva

Who is Mutabar Tadjibayeva?

Mutabar Tadjibayeva is an independent journalist and human rights activist. She is a founder of the International Human Rights Organization ‘’Fiery Hearts Club’’. Tadjibayeva monitored human rights implementation and carried out journalist investigations. She participated in investigative actions and judicial trials as a defense counsel and authorized representative in Uzbekistan.

Tadjibayeva is also a founder of the Popular Movement ‘’Civil Society’’. She was arrested on 7 October 2005 just before leaving to Dublin where she was due to attend an international conference on human rights protection. Mutabar Tadjibayeva was accused in breaching the 18 articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. She was convicted on 13 counts and sentenced to 8 years in prison for criticizing the Uzbek government for having used violence against the participants of the peaceful demonstration in Andijan in 2005.

In 2005 the international organization ‘’Peace Women Across the Globe’’ under the Nobel Commitee included Mutabar Tadjibayeva’s name to the list of ‘’1000 women peace activists’’, thus making her the official nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

On May 15, 2008, when she was still in prison, Mutabar Tadjibayeva was awarded with the Martin Ennals Award. The same day the bloggers who wrote about human rights announced top 10 list of the women who had played the most significant role in human rights protection. Mutabar Tadjibayeva was among them. On July 2, 2008, Tadjibayeva was released. The Martin Ennals Award Ceremony was held in Geneva on November 20, 2008. For the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ‘’Fiery Hearts Club’’ was awarded with the French Republic's “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” Prize. On December 10, 2008, Mutabar Tadjibayeva was awarded with the same prize during the ceremony in Paris.