USCIRF Conversation: New Report on Uzbekistan’s Religious Prisoners

Oct 13

WHEN:

Oct 13th 2:00pm - Oct 13th 3:00pm

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

USCIRF Conversation: New Report on Uzbekistan’s Religious Prisoners

Wednesday, October 13, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Virtual Event

Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a virtual event discussing the findings of USCIRF’s new report, Uzbekistan's Religious and Political Prisoners: Addressing a Legacy of Repression. The report documents credible evidence that the Uzbek government continues to imprison over 2,000 peaceful religious believers. It also highlights the personal cases of 81 individuals, many of whom were subject to torture and other forms of abuse.

Uzbekistan has some of the most repressive laws on religious practice anywhere in the world. Since 2016, the Uzbek government has initiated a series of reforms, including the release of certain categories of religious and political prisoners. Nevertheless, the government has yet to provide the identities of those released or provide any information about those individuals that remain incarcerated.

USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza and Vice Chair Nury Turkel will be joined by the author of the report, Steve Swerdlow, Associate Professor of the Practice of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California and former Senior Central Asia Researcher at Human Rights Watch, for this discussion. The event will be moderated by USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir and will include Q&A for attendees.

Panelists

  • Nadine Maenza, Chair, USCIRF
  • Nury Turkel, Vice Chair, USCIRF
  • Steve Swerdlow, Esq., Associate Professor, University of Southern California

Moderator

  • Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

 

This virtual event is open to the public and media. The video recording will be posted on the Commission website. For any additional questions, please contact [email protected].