Muzafar Avazov, a so-called religious prisoner at Uzbekistan's Jaslyk prison, endured horrific final moments as he was submerged in scalding hot water, with his fingernails torn from his hands. Doctors reported that 60 to 70 per cent of his body was burnt, concluding that such burns could only have been caused by immersion in boiling water.
Systematic Torture at Jaslyk Prison
Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented the deaths of Avazov and Husnidin Alimov in 2002 as suspicious fatalities bearing unmistakable evidence of torture. According to witness testimonies, Avazov also bore a bloody wound to the rear of his head alongside severe bruising on his forehead and neck. His fingers were without nails.
Jaslyk prison, located in north-west Uzbekistan, has been described by human rights activists and former inmates as a site of systematic human rights abuses. Known as the 'Place of No Return', it was established in 1999 on the grounds of a former Soviet-era chemical weapons testing site within the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. The region is notorious for its punishing climate, enduring bitterly cold winters and sweltering summers.
Former Inmates Describe Appalling Conditions
Valeriy Parijer, a businessman holding dual Russian-Israeli citizenship, was transferred to Jaslyk in 2012. As his original prison sentence neared its end, he was relocated and handed an additional five-year term for 'breaking prison rules'. Parijer's wife, Irina, claimed he endured 'horrendous suffering', including needles placed under his fingernails and confinement inside an iron box for hours in summer heat. She feared for her husband's life and did not believe he would survive another five years in Jaslyk. Demonstrations in his name took place outside the Uzbek Embassy in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan.
Other ex-prisoners described appalling torture techniques, including electric shocks, sexual assault, the removal of prisoners' fingernails, and extended periods of solitary confinement without food or drink. Yusuf Juma, an Uzbek poet and dissident who served three years at Jaslyk, said: 'I don't know which is worse -- Jaslyk or Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Jaslyk is nothing less than a death camp. It feels like there is no limit to the cruelty the prison officers there are capable of.' Juma was jailed in 2007 after questioning President Karimov's right to seek another term. He recounted: 'Every month, they would keep me in solitary confinement for 15 days. Another 15 days of each month I would spend in another facility in the town of Nukus, some 500 kilometers away. They would transfer me there in a small iron box -- too small to sit, too small to stand up. And it was a bumpy road and my head would bang against iron. There wasn't enough air to breathe.'
International Response and Denials
The Israeli government wrote to Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry demanding Parijer's immediate transfer to a different prison, while simultaneously calling for his outright release. However, Uzbek authorities maintain that conditions have since improved, flatly rejecting claims that torture is prevalent within the nation's prison system. A number of law enforcement officers have reportedly faced punishment following allegations of mistreating detainees.
Nevertheless, the country continues to refuse United Nations rapporteurs on torture access to Uzbek prisons, including Jaslyk. The facility currently holds between 5,000 and 7,000 inmates, according to HRW. Swerdlow of HRW said: 'Since that time torture has really been one of the major focuses of the human rights community concerning Uzbekistan. Jaslyk has continued for the last decade to be the source of numerous reports -- credible and consistent reports -- of torture of so-called religious prisoners.'
