Lawyer Sergei Mayorov, who visited political prisoner Dauletmurat Tajimuratov in Prison No. 11 in Navoi on 17 January, complained to Forum 18 that his client was deprived of his religious freedom and tortured for reading the Koran and protesting against the violation of his religious freedom and other rights.

Tajimuratov, who is now 46, is a Karakalpak lawyer, journalist, and human rights defender who played a leading role in the 2022 Karakalpak protests. He was arrested in July 2022 for calling residents of Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic, to a peaceful demonstration against the Uzbek authorities' decision to remove the autonomous status of the Republic. In January 2023, Bukhara Regional Criminal Court jailed him for 16 years (see below).

Tajimuratov, a devout Muslim, has repeatedly faced punishment for exercising his freedom of religion or belief in prison. "Between 4 – 7 March 2025, during the first four days of a 10-day solitary confinement, guards reportedly seized Mr. Tajimuratov's uneaten food before he could break his fast for Ramadan, resulting in him not eating for four consecutive days," United Nations human rights rapporteurs noted in May 2025 (see below).

The regime responded to the UN rapporteurs in June 2025. "Regarding Mr Tajimuratov, there is no evidence that he was refused food or that it was withdrawn," the response claimed. "According to internal documentation and CCTV footage, food was served on time and at set times. No complaints were received from the convicted person himself on this matter." It claimed the authorities would "continue to ensure" Tajimuratov's rights, including to "religious practices" (see below).

According to the internal rules, prisoners are permitted on Sundays to read literature. This includes religious books of their choice from the prison library, Tajimuratov told his Lawyer Mayorov during the January 2026 visit. Tajimuratov wanted to read the Koran on the prisoners' day of rest, but at the only time in the evening light is poor and his eyes are not good enough (see below).

Prison officials told Tajimuratov he could read the Koran on Sundays instead of eating lunch. He did this twice in November 2025, but on the third Sunday, prison officials prevented him from doing so and warned him. The following week, after prison officials crudely insulted him in front of other prisoners at a "moral education" meeting, he threw his boot at officials. They then took him to an unheated punishment cell and tortured him. "Seemingly the prison authorities did everything to make Tajimuratov sick," Lawyer Mayorov told Forum 18 (see below).

Major Farkhod Djiyanov, who answered the phone at Prison No. 11, refused to put Forum 18 through to Anvarjon Asadov, the Governor of the prison, or any other officials. He also refused to say why prison officials tortured Tajimuratov for reading the Koran, in violation of the Constitution of Uzbekistan and the UN Mandela Rules for protection of the rights of the prisoners (see below).

Interior Ministry Press Service and other Ministry officials in Tashkent did not answer their phones each time Forum 18 called (see below).

The Navoi regional representative of Uzbekistan's regime-appointed Ombudsperson, Shukhrat Djurayev, paid a general visit to Prison No. 11 in September 2025. When Tajimuratov wanted to meet individually with the official and convey to him his complaints, the official declined to do so. "All he did was take a selfie photo with him," Lawyer Mayorov reported to Forum 18 Tajimuratov telling him (see below).

The man who answered the phone of Ombudsperson's Official Djurayev in Navoi swore at Forum 18 and put the phone down. Called a second time and told that Forum 18 had important questions, the man replied: "I am Djurayev. So what?" When Forum 18 asked why he did not talk individually with Tajimuratov during his prison visit and record his complaint, he put the phone down (see below).

Denials of prisoners' rights, including to freedom of religion or belief

Prison conditions are harsh, with unsanitary and dangerous living and working conditions, beatings by guards, and criminal gangs having a ruthless hold over other prisoners. Freedom of religion and belief is denied to all prisoners. Prison and labour camp conditions are harsh, and even religious communities the regime allows to exist – such as the state-controlled Muftiate and the Russian Orthodox Church – appear to have only limited access to prisoners.

Human rights violations within prisons include torture, denials of medical care, and denials of the possibility to read sacred texts and pray openly. In November 2020 prison guards tortured a Muslim man for praying the namaz (Islamic daily prayers). "The prison officers beat him up really badly, leaving bruises on his body and face," family members who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals told Forum 18. "Why did the authorities punish him simply for praying the namaz? What day and age do we live in?"

The parents of Muslim prisoner of conscience Faryozbek Kobilov told Forum 18 in September 2023 that the prison authorities do not allow their son to read the Koran, "but are compelling him to read books for his correction". The officers claimed to Kobilov that if he reads these books they may transfer him to a prison closer to where his parents live. "We do not know what these books are and whether they are against Muslim morals," his parents lamented.

Jailed for 16 years

Dauletmurat Myrzaurat Tajimuratov (born 27 March 1979) is a Karakalpak lawyer, journalist, and human rights defender who played a leading role in the 2022 Karakalpak protests. He was arrested in July 2022 for calling residents of Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic, to a peaceful demonstration against the Uzbek authorities' decision to remove the autonomous status of the Republic.

In January 2023, Bukhara Regional Criminal Court sentenced Tajimuratov to 16 years' imprisonment for "orchestrating mass riots" and "attempting to seize power".

In June 2023, the prison authorities transferred Tajimuratov to Prison No. 11 in Navoi. He spent the first two years of his imprisonment in the maximum-security section of the Prison before being moved to the general-regime section.

Tajimuratov is a devout Muslim. He has repeatedly faced punishment for exercising his freedom of religion or belief in prison.

Address of the prison:

11-son Jazoni Ijro Etish Koloniyasi
210100 Navoi viloyati
Navoi shaxri
Ishchilar shaharchasi

Tajimuratov tortured "both physically and psychologically"

Lawyer Sergei Mayorov, who visited Dauletmurat Tajimuratov in the Navoi prison on 17 January 2026, complained to Forum 18 that Tajimuratov was deprived of his religious freedom and tortured for reading the Koran and protesting against the violation of his religious freedom and other rights.

"I visited the prison upon his relatives' complaint," Lawyer Mayorov told Forum 18. Mayorov also on 22 January shared on YouTube a recorded video-complaint to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Interior and Justice Ministers, and Prosecutor General, as well as local and international human rights organisations which are monitoring Tajimuratov's treatment in prison.

When Mayorov met Tajimuratov in the prison, Tajimuratov confirmed to him that "the prison officers indeed tortured him both physically and psychologically".

The prison authorities "indeed created an atmosphere of intolerance, animosity and vulnerability around Tajimuratov", Mayorov complained.

Officials allow Koran reading twice, ban third attempt

Sunday is the only day of rest in prison, while five days of the week, except on Thursdays, the inmates do physical work as part of their punishment. However, the prison authorities arrange roll calls and summon the inmates to give them various instructions, Mayorov reported Tajimuratov telling him.

According to the internal rules, prisoners are permitted on Sundays to read literature. This includes religious books of their choice from the prison library, Tajimuratov told Mayorov.

"There are only one to two hours on Sunday evenings left for rest or to read the Koran," Tajimuratov lamented. "At night the lighting in the prison is also bad, which creates difficulty for reading since my eyesight is also bad and the prison authorities refuse to provide me with reading glasses."

Having thought about this, Tajimuratov officially requested the prison authorities to allow him to read the Koran during the day. The prison authorities "told me that I can do my reading during lunchtime by skipping lunch".

Tajimuratov used this opportunity in November 2025 and read the Koran on two Sundays in a row. "The third Sunday [16 November] he was not allowed to do so and warned," Lawyer Sergei Mayorov noted.

Tajimuratov's November 2025 protest

The following Thursday, on 20 November 2025, during a regular meeting with the inmates in the prison hall for "moral education", the prison authorities called out Tajimuratov's name. "They insulted him with uncensored words in front of the all the other inmates. They called him a traitor, whose activity resulted in the deaths of many innocent people in Karakalpakstan."

"When the prison authorities started insulting Tajimuratov," Lawyer Sergei Mayorov told Forum 18, "he took off his boot and threw it at the officers. He shouted at them that they themselves violate the prisoners' rights by not allowing them properly to rest on Sundays and by insulting them every Thursday instead of teaching on moral principles."

Tajimuratov told Mayorov that he was "not trying to act like a hooligan but that by doing so he wanted to show his protest against the actions of the prison authorities, who also deprive the prisoners of many of their rights, torture and insult them regularly".

November 2025 torture

After his 20 November 2025 outburst, the prison guards immediately seized Tajimuratov. They twisted his arms, forcing and pulling them upward, and tied them up behind his back in a stress position. This is an illegal method of restraint, which causes intense shoulder pain and loss of mobility.

The guards then forced him - walking barefoot in the cold weather through the prison territory with his back bent and head down - to a punishment cell, where he was incarcerated. Once in the cell, which has concrete floors and is cold, the guards poured over him more than twenty buckets of cold water with dissolved lime.

The next day guards placed Tajimuratov in another cell, which did not have insulation. Cold air blew through the cell all the time, while he was dressed only in light clothes. "Seemingly the prison authorities did everything to make Tajimuratov sick," Lawyer Sergei Mayorov said.

Night-time temperatures in Navoi in late November and early December 2025 were a couple of degrees below zero Celsius.

While Tajimuratov was in the punishment cell, officers several times tortured him further. They kicked various parts of his body with their boots. He lost consciousness once. When he regained consciousness, he realised that his body was covered by very bad bruises.

Tajimuratov spent fifteen days in the punishment cell. For the first four days, he was given only cold tea and cold food.

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules, A/C.3/70/L.3) state: "No prisoner shall be subjected to, and all prisoners shall be protected from, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, for which no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification." They are also explicit about the obligation of prison administrations to tackle prisoners' health concerns appropriately, and protect prisoners' exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief.

Major Farkhod Djiyanov, who answered the phone at Prison No. 11 on 16 February, refused to put Forum 18 through to Anvarjon Asadov, the Governor of the prison or any other officials. He also refused to say why prison officials tortured Tajimuratov for reading the Koran, in violation of the Constitution of Uzbekistan and the UN Mandela Rules for protection of the rights of the prisoners.

"I know who you are. You are Tajimuratov's Lawyer Mayorov," Major Djiyanov told Forum 18. When Forum 18 assured him that it is not Lawyer Mayorov calling, he replied: "Well we are not allowed to talk to you over the phone."

Uzbekistan's obligations under Convention against Torture

Uzbekistan is a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."

Under the Convention, Uzbekistan is obliged both to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature".

Violation of procedure

During Tajimuratov's outburst on 20 November 2025, cameras present in the prison and on the bodies of the officers must have recorded everything. However, it appears that no video records exist showing how the incident happened and how the prison guards treated Tajimuratov.

In December 2025, while Tajimuratov was still in the punishment cell, prison officials brought him the records of the process of his detention and placement in the cell and asked him to read and sign them. When Tajimuratov asked officials to provide him with suitable reading glasses since his eyesight is weak, the officers refused. Then the authorities ruled that Tajimuratov refused to familiarise himself with the records and sign them.

"It looks like the prison authorities want to shorten Tajimuratov's life"

The Navoi prison authorities went on to punish Tajimuratov. On 13 January 2026, the officially designated date for a long visit, when his family could come and stay with him in the prison for up to two days, the authorities did not allow this. Prison officials told his parents, who had travelled to the prison on the same day, that Tajimuratov was banned from having long visits.

The authorities also banned other inmates to talk to Tajimuratov and warned them that anyone violating the ban will be punished. One such prisoner was deprived of his right to be transferred to a labour camp, a lower-level security prison, in January because one evening he had tea together with Tajimuratov and talked to him.

Tajimuratov also works in a prison workshop with a hazardous environment producing lime from limestone. "The machine grinding the limestone was manufactured manually by private persons and does not correspond to high quality standards. The prison authorities provide the workers with low quality masks only once a month. There is a great danger of developing lung diseases, including cancer, in such an environment," Lawyer Mayorov complained to Forum 18. "It looks like the prison authorities want to shorten Tajimuratov's life."

Tajimuratov's complaints ignored or destroyed?

Tajimuratov, who himself is a trained lawyer, wrote many complaints to President Mirziyoyev, the Interior and Justice Ministers, the Prosecutor General as well as the regime-appointed Human Rights Ombudsperson about the violations against him in prison. But Tajimuratov has received no written answers from any of those officials. Tajimuratov thinks that none of his complaints reached the addressees because the prison authorities may have just collected and destroyed them.

Out of all the organs Tajimuratov wrote to, only the Navoi regional representative of Uzbekistan's Ombudsperson, Shukhrat Djurayev, paid a general visit to Prison No. 11 in September 2025. When Tajimuratov wanted to meet individually with the official and convey to him his complaints, the official declined to do so. "All he did was take a selfie photo with him," Lawyer Mayorov reported to Forum 18 Tajimuratov telling him. "The official left without talking to Tajimuratov and falsely promising he would shortly be back to talk to him."

Lawyer Mayorov believes that the Ombudsperson's Office official Djurayev visited the prison only to take a photo with Tajimuratov as false evidence of him talking with the prisoner of conscience about his complaint.
Mayorov also complained that he is "aware of the fact that scores of letters have been sent to Tajimuratov from his relatives and wider community from Uzbekistan and outside, but only five letters written by his parents have reached him. Authorities in Uzbekistan see these letters but block them from reaching him."

The man who answered the phone of Ombudsperson's Official Djurayev in Navoi on 16 February swore at Forum 18 and put the phone down. Called a second time and told that Forum 18 had important questions, the man replied: "I am Djurayev. So what?" When Forum 18 asked why he did not talk individually with Tajimuratov during his prison visit and record his complaint, he put the phone down.

Interior Ministry Press Service and other Ministry officials in Tashkent did not answer their phones each time Forum 18 called on 16 February.

UN concern over denials of Tajimuratov's right to observe Muslim fast

United Nations human rights rapporteurs have repeatedly raised concerns about Tajimuratov's prosecution and about his treatment in prison. These include earlier violations of his right to exercise freedom of religion or belief while jailed in Prison No. 11 in Navoi.

On 12 May 2025, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders; the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression; and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers wrote to the Uzbek government about Tajimuratov's case (AL UZB 3/2025).

The UN human rights rapporteurs noted that "we are concerned by new allegations" over Tajimuratov's treatment in prison, including "seizure of food prior to the breaking of his fast during Ramadan".

"Between 4 – 7 March 2025, during the first four days of a 10-day solitary confinement, guards reportedly seized Mr. Tajimuratov's uneaten food before he could break his fast for Ramadan, resulting in him not eating for four consecutive days," the UN human rights rapporteurs noted. (The Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2025 ran from the end of February to the end of March.)

"Concerning Mr. Tajimuratov's fasting", the rapporteurs reminded the government about Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees everyone the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. "This right includes freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching."

The rapporteurs also reminded the government about UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules, A/C.3/70/L.3). They pointed to Article 2, which guarantees respect for prisoners' religious beliefs.

The UN human rights rapporteurs asked the Uzbek authorities to inform them of what investigations they had carried out into these violations of Tajimuratov's rights and the result of any investigations "if conducted".

The regime responded to the UN rapporteurs on 25 June 2025. Tajimuratov "has been ensured the right to freedom of religion", the response claimed.

"Uzbek laws guarantee convicted persons the right to freedom of religion, including the ability to perform religious rites and use religious objects and religious literature, provided that the established procedure is observed," the response maintained.

"Regarding Mr Tajimuratov, there is no evidence that he was refused food or that it was withdrawn," the response added. "According to internal documentation and CCTV footage, food was served on time and at set times. No complaints were received from the convicted person himself on this matter." It claimed the authorities would "continue to ensure" Tajimuratov's rights, including to "religious practices".

In 2026, Ramadan is due to begin in mid-February and run till mid-March. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Uzbekistan

For background information, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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