Friends of Refugees

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Archive for the ‘Uzbek’ Category

Uzbek Refugee From Denver Will Probably Get Soviet-Style US Trial

Posted by Christopher Coen on March 16, 2012

Joshua Foust, a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net, writes that Jamshid Muhtorov, the Uzbek refugee from Denver who prosecutors accuse of aiding a terrorist organization, will probably not get a fair trial. Foust notes the prosecution won’t let Muhtorov’s defense know or discuss how the prosecution claims to know that Muhtorov “knew” he was going to go help an organization fight US forces. Prosecutors are holding Muhtorov on secret evidence, including witness statements, which by definition of being secret cannot be scrutinized or challenged. The prosecution also alleges, without presenting any evidence, that Muhtorov is too violent to release publicly, though they have not charged him with planning any violent attacks. Furthermore, the prosecution alleges that years of documentation showing that Muhtorov was indeed a human rights activist, including leaked State Department cables, are questionable at best because “some online articles” (a blogger’s rantings) accused Muhtorov of faking everything. (???) So, the prosecution has resorted to repeating rumors on the Internet to defame this man, rather than relying on real evidence.

Foust writes that it gives him pause when terrorism cases are built on hearsay, internet comments, crazed lunatics posting 6,000 word anger-rants, and secret evidence. He says that it should concern people that this leaves either a trial based on flimsy, circumstantial internet behavior for a pre-crime or thought-crime, or it leaves a secret, unchallengeable Soviet-style trial with secret evidence that no one can scrutinize. Foust’s analysis is found at the Registan:

The Denver Post has been following the saga of Uzbek refugee turned terror suspect Jamshid Muhtorov, since he settled in the U.S. in Aurora, a city next to Denver, Colorado (when I was doing my undergrad in Boulder, I would teach classes for the Princeton review in Aurora and Columbine, if you can believe it).

While the case itself remains under investigation — we have yet to see if the government is going to bring any non-circumstantial evidence forward — the coverage of said case, including the credulity given to the prosecution’s statements and publicly declared evidence in the press, is pretty surprising… Read more here

Posted in Denver, security/terrorism, Uzbek | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Welcoming The Stranger Without Becoming Overly Involved

Posted by Christopher Coen on March 7, 2012

A Catholic volunteer in Kansas City seems to have found the right balance between welcoming refugees to her community without becoming overly involved. She’s found a way to connect with the refugees via her heart and mind while realizing the goal is their autonomy. An article in the Kansas City Star tells her story:

When Bernadette Coulter responded to a note in her church’s bulletin about helping in a conversational English class for refugees, she had no idea what she was getting into.

That was six years ago. On Friday, Coulter was sitting with her husband and friends in a federal courtroom watching Mamur Karabaev, an Uzbekistan refugee she calls her “adopted” son, affirm his American citizenship during a naturalization ceremony.

Karabaev is the last of a dozen refugees who escaped Uzbekistan after a massacre and found their way eventually to Coulter. She calls them her “boys.”

“I never expected to be this involved,” the Shawnee woman said. “It has been very fun and exciting and rewarding, heartbreaking and frustrating.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat.”…

…Barbara Smith, a friend and member of Good Shepherd Catholic Church with Coulter, said she has watched the story unfold from the beginning…

…Friends of Coulter, a 63-year-old retired hairdresser and mother of three, speak of her humility and willingness to help others. Becoming involved in the refugees’ lives, that’s just something Coulter would do, Smith said.

“One person can make a difference and she did it,” Smith said.

But what Coulter did may not always work so well, one person warned.

David Holsclaw, director of English as a second language at the Don Bosco Center, said relationships such as the one between Coulter and Karabaev are the exception to typical stories he’s heard about volunteers who may be over-involved.

“There are some volunteers that go nuts and become way too involved and really become problematic,” Holsclaw said…

…Developing an emotional connection can be detrimental to the resettlement process, he said.

For her part, Coulter thinks being a volunteer helped her.

“I think I had an advantage not being constrained by rules or regulations,” she said. “I was able to jump in feet first.” Read more here

Posted in Catholic, Kansas City, Uzbek, volunteers | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Recasting Freedom Fighters As Terrorists?

Posted by Christopher Coen on February 4, 2012

A federal grand jury has indicted an Uzbek refugee living in Denver for alleged material support to an Uzbekistan group that the U.S. State Department designates a foreign terrorist organization. But the group is fighting the Uzbekistan dictatorship that U.S. diplomats spoke out against for its indiscriminate use of force after police mowed down hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in 2005. The regime practices torture of activists and ordinary citizens using electric shock, boiling water and the threat of rape and sexual humiliation, thus radicalizing many Uzbeks. A professor calls the Uzbek dictator one of the world’s worst human-rights violators. (Reminds me of the US government’s help in creating the Iranian Islamic regime via support for the Shah of Iran’s widespread repression and human rights abuses.) Human Rights Watch claims that the material-support law is overbroad and that it’s a problem if our government uses the law improperly against anybody who was not actually involved in terrorism. An article in The Denver Post explains the story:

AURORA — The Uzbek refugee facing terrorism charges in Denver was a merchant turned human-rights activist who tried to defend farmers, opposed Uzbekistan’s dictator after a 2005 massacre, endured a detention that left him bloody, saw his sister arrested on a false murder charge…

The plight of Jamshid Muhtorov, 35, looked so bleak that the United Nations and U.S. government rescued him, along with his wife and two small children. U.S. authorities gave Muhtorov a comfortable new perch in Colorado…

But now the same government that rescued Muhtorov is prosecuting him under a law that prohibits “material support” for terrorists.

FBI agents arrested him in Chicago on Jan. 21 while he was en route to Turkey. A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly providing material support to the Islamic Jihad Union — which the U.S. State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization — and attempting to provide material support.

It’s a complicated case that raises questions about the fine line between freedom fighter and terrorist. The portrait of Muhtorov that emerges from State Department reports — including a leaked diplomatic cable, and from interviews with human-rights colleagues — is one of an idealist forced to flee for his life. He — like Libyans, Egyptians and others — remained keenly aware of the continuing repression and fight for freedom back home…

 …A federal affidavit does not reveal much about the substance of his alleged material support...

The law [that prohibits "material support" for terrorists] is controversial.

“Human Rights Watch definitely has concerns that the material-support law is overbroad,” said Laura Pitter, an adviser on counterterrorism for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which worked with Muhtorov inside Uzbekistan. “If the material-support law was being used improperly against somebody who was not actually involved in terrorism, then that would be a problem.”…

 …In 2005, U.S. diplomats spoke out publicly against Uzbekistan’s indiscriminate use of force when police mowed down hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators at Andijan, near where Muhtorov was working.

Since then, [Uzbekistan's dictator, Islam Karimov's] repression has intensified and includes torture of activists and ordinary citizens using electric shock, boiling water and the threat of rape and sexual humiliation, said Hugh Williamson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division...

“The longstanding dictator of Uzbekistan is one of the worst human-rights violators in the world,” said Nader Hashemi, an assistant professor at the University of Denver who studies Middle East and Islamic affairs.

Ruthless torture and oppression by Karimov “have radicalized a lot of Uzbeks who are seeking a revolutionary change. The IJU emerges out of that political context,” Hashemi said.

While union members have been charged with attacks on U.S. and German targets overseas and could have links to al-Qaeda, “Muhtorov may not have any intention of committing a terrorist act against Americans. It depends on where he was flying to and what the objective of the mission was,” he said.

“My sense is the target of his ire and his angst is back in his native country. If he was targeting Western forces, that would raise serious concerns,” Hashemi said. “But if one wants to be objective, it would be highly irresponsible for someone to render a judgment on this case without bringing it back to Uzbekistan and the political regime there.” Read more here

Posted in Denver, FBI, Human Rights Watch, Islamic, police, security/terrorism, Uzbek | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

 
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