HRW: Uzbek torture ignored by West

Western governments moving closer to the government of Uzbekistan are ignoring torture in its criminal justice system, Human Rights Watch said. The rights group, in a 104-page report said the use of electric shocks and asphyxiation are commonplace in the Uzbek criminal justice system. Human Rights Watch pointed to a 2002 case in Uzbekistan in which a man jailed, allegedly for religious extremism, died after being dumped in boiling water. The European Union lifted sanctions on Uzbekistan in 2009 and Washington followed a similar course this year. Human Rights Watch noted the concessions came during negotiations to move British military supplies through Uzbek territory for the Afghan conflict. Nevertheless, the organization determined, through more than 100 interviews conducted over two years, that torture in the country was widespread and systematic. "The West has to wake up to the fact that Uzbekistan is a pariah state with one of the worst human rights records," Steve Swerdlow, Uzbekistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement from Berlin. "Being located next to Afghanistan should not give Uzbekistan a pass on its horrendous record of torture and repression." The United Nations made similar claims about the justice system in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.