Letter from Javhar Yusufjon Oghlu, the 10-year-old son of a father who is a poet, Nobel Prize nominee, and jailed in Uzbekistan.
Dear America,
I am 10 years old but I know that there are bad people who are hurting, beating, trying to kill, and putting my daddy in jail. When I miss my daddy […]

Last Friday (May 16) police in France, Germany and the Netherlands arrested 10 men suspected of providing funds to the Islamic Movment of Uzbekistan (IMU) (AP). Eight of the suspects were arrested in France and one each in Germany and the Netherlands. Interestingly, at least nine of the arrestees are believed to be of […]

The BBC World Service has produced a documentary about the murdered Tashkent theatre director Mark Weil (guardian obituary here). The documentary is called ‘Beyond Mark Weil’ and is presented by the always excellent Natalya Antaleva. Weil, a Russian Jew, founded the Ilkhom Theatre in 1976. It was the first independent theatre in the USSR […]

May 13, 2005… Three years have passed since the bloody suppression of a civic demonstration in the center of Andijon city, Uzbekistan. According to different independent sources, several hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were shot dead by government troops on this day. Many people fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, where UNHCR helped them to find an […]

For a long time Tohir Yuldosh has been the only Uzbekistani (and Central Asian), who was included by US and UN to the list of top suspects for connection with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Tohir Yuldosh is an amir (leader) of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), who got this position after the death […]

The Washington Post carries a snappy review of a Central Asian restaurant in NYC that specialises in kosher food. Taam-Tov is based in the Diamond District and focuses on the cuisine of Bukhara, which has a long-established Jewish community. The reviewer writes:
‘11:54 a.m. I’m on my way to the Diamond District, where young men […]