Earlier this month, Sharifa Madrakhimova’s passport was tampered with and destroyed, preventing her from traveling abroad to accept an award honoring her work defending human rights in Uzbekistan. Shortly afterward, Abdurakhmon Tashanov, another prominent rights defender, was ordered to pay several thousand dollars in a civil defamation case for an innocuous Facebook post.
While the two cases aren’t connected, each exemplifies the kind of retaliation activists in Uzbekistan can face for doing important and increasingly difficult human rights work.
Tashanov is the head of Ezgulik Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, one of a few registered human rights organizations in Uzbekistan. He uses his popular Facebook page to report on rights violations in the country.
On February 28, 2025,Tashanov posted a response to two Tashkent State Law University lecturers who had accused him of undermining public trust in Uzbekistan’s judiciary. The lecturers sued, andon May 23, a court ordered Tashanov to pay the plaintiffs 50 million soums (approx. US$4,000) for “discrediting their honor, dignity, and professional reputation,” and to take down the post and issue a public apology.
Madrakhimova, meanwhile, is a rights defender and journalist who monitors and reports on rights issues in Uzbekistan ranging from labor rights to social issues. She is one of five recipients of this year’sFront Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk and planned to attend the awards ceremony in Dublin.
Madrakhimova sent her passport away as part of the visa process, only to later receive it back in a sealed envelope, its biometric chip destroyed by fire. She tried to secure a new passport before the May 22 ceremony, but to no avail.
This isnot the first time Tashanov orMadrakhimova has faced harassment for their human rights activism. Other activists inUzbekistan are behind bars orlocked up in forced psychiatric detention.
Uzbek authorities should take these incidents seriously. Tashanov should get a fair appeal and authorities should uphold his right to freedom of expression. Authorities should also investigate how Madrakhimova’s passport was destroyed and hold those responsible to account.
They, like all human rights activists and journalists in Uzbekistan, should be free to carry out their work without fear of harassment or retaliation.
