Uzbeks shut second U.S. charity in four days

By Shamil Baigin

TASHKENT (Reuters) – Uzbekistan, increasingly hostile
toward foreign non-governmental organizations it accuses of
fomenting revolution in the ex-Soviet state, has shut a second
U.S. charity in four days, the charity said on Tuesday.

A worker for U.S.-based educational charity IREX, who did
not want his name to be disclosed, told Reuters that Tashkent
city court ordered the organization on Monday to suspend its
activities for six months.

“The decision was motivated by IREX’s refusal to provide
information about Uzbek citizens who studied abroad, being
supported by IREX,” he said adding that other charges included
the use of an unregistered logo.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.

Last Friday, an Uzbek court ordered U.S.-based Internews,
which helps media in 50 countries, to close its office. Last
year Uzbekistan closed the office of Open Society, a charity
run by U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

President Islam Karimov, who has subdued political
opposition to his 16-year rule, says international NGOs are
trying to stoke a peaceful revolution in Uzbekistan like the
ones which changed governments in ex-Soviet Ukraine and
Georgia.

Human rights bodies say dozens of Uzbek dissidents have
been jailed and international charities have come under
pressure since May, when according to witnesses troops killed
more than 500 people, quelling riots in the eastern town of
Andizhan.

Karimov resists Western calls for an independent
investigation into the Andizhan events and accuses foreign
media, humanitarian bodies and charities of waging “an
information war” against Uzbekistan.

The authorities say the Andizhan uprising was orchestrated
by “extremist foreign forces” and insist that only 187 people,
including 94 “terrorists,” died in the town.

In another sign of its new hostility toward the West,
Tashkent gave the United States six months in July to leave a
key airbase in Uzbekistan.