Uzbekistan
YouTube/Ruptly TVHillary Clinton and Islam Karimov.
While all of the dictatorships mentioned so far ended long ago, Uzbekistan’s continued until very recently — a fact that Washington doesn’t seems to mind much, likely due to the nation’s geography and its erstwhile leader’s shared interest in combatting Islamic extremism.
Indeed, the central Asian country lies close to Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, and China, all nations on which the U.S. has great interest in keeping an eye. And all Washington has ever had to do to keep Uzbekistan friendly is allow its autocrat to do as he wishes.
From 1991 until his September 2016 death, Islam Karimov presided over Uzbekistan’s constitutional dictatorship. Throughout this time, the Karimov regime engaged in what the United Nations has called “institutionalized, systematic and rampant” acts of torture, which Karimov directed toward the Muslim community in particular.
VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/Getty ImagesUzbek refugees sleep on the ground at the refugees camp outside the Kyrgyz village of Barash on May 20, 2005. Uzbekistan stalled Friday in response to demands for an international probe of a military crackdown that left hundreds dead, as President Islam Karimov denied the issue came up in a telephone briefing on the violence he gave the UN Secretary-General.
Over the course of his reign, Karimov’s administration purged Muslim leaders and jailed, tortured, and disappeared Muslims citizens. Following the September 11th attacks, Karimov’s opposition to the Taliban made him an appealing ally in the U.S. “War on Terror,” and the U.S. began to offer military and financial aid accordingly.
In 2002 — just after this U.S. aid entered Uzbekistan borders — Karimov had two dissidents boiled alive. Three years later, his regime had hundreds of anti-government protesters in the city of Andijan slaughtered.
According to Human Rights Watch, Karimov maintained these systems of abuse until his death.
“Thousands of people are imprisoned on politically motivated charges, torture is endemic, and authorities regularly harass human rights activists, opposition members, and journalists,” the US-based humanitarian group wrote in 2015.
“Muslims and Christians who practice their religion outside strict state controls are persecuted. Authorities force millions of adults to harvest cotton every fall under harsh conditions, netting enormous profits for the government.”
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