Reuters AlertNet Lite - Russia defends deporting Uzbek in rights row

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Russia defends deporting Uzbek in rights row

27 Oct 2006 13:03:46 GMT
Source: Reuters

MOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russia's FSB security service defended on Friday deporting an Uzbek man to his Central Asian homeland despite an order by the European Court of Human Rights to stop his deportation.

Russia's Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, said Rustam Muminov was deported on Friday, Interfax news agency reported. His supporters have told Reuters Muminov was deported on Oct. 24.

The FSB said Muminov had moved to Russia in 2001 and started "preaching religious extremism", Interfax reported. The FSB said it had worked with Uzbekistan's National Security Service on the investigation of Muminov.

Rights groups have said Muminov could face life in jail, death or torture in Uzbekistan, accused by the West of jailing thousands of dissidents and using torture in prisons.

Officials in Uzbekistan, an authoritarian Central Asian state, deny those accusations.

While in Uzbekistan, Muminov "occupied himself with the propaganda of religious extremism and made calls for the armed takeover of power", Interfax quoted the FSB as saying in a statement.

A spokesman for the FSB said statements were only forwarded to those his superiors deem should receive them and declined to send Reuters a copy. He declined to comment further.

Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have called on the European Union to demand Russia cease sending refugees or asylum seekers back to countries where they face harm.

The FSB said that Muminov was "an active member of the international terrorist organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir". Hizb-ut-Tahrir is an Islamic group banned in Russia and Central Asia.

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Last updated:Fri Oct 27 13:05:48 2006