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Freedom of Religion and belief 
The role of religion in modern Uzbekistan, and Uzbek identity is a complex one. As Uzbekistan’s 
many tourist sites can attest, the country has played an important role in the spiritual life of Central 
Asia over many centuries. Under the Soviets Uzbekistan was home to the Spiritual Administration of 
the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan (SADUM), which coordinated training, materials and 
supervision of religious activity in across the five Central Asian republics. Under Karimov, while 
Islamic identity was a constituent part around which he sought to build the remerging Uzbek identity, 
his approach to the religion itself remained one of tight state control of religion under the 
supervision of Uzbekistan's branch of SADUM renamed the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan.
185
 In the 
late 1990s and early 2000s growing concerns about radicalisation and impact of conflicts in 
Afghanistan and Tajikistan helped to facilitate a further crackdown on religious activity across 
Uzbekistan and in particular in the more devout Fergana valley. The crackdown, and the opening of 
the notorious Jaslyk Prison, was spurred on by six car bombs in Tashkent on February 16
th
 1999 that 
targeted government facilities, including one outside the Cabinet of Ministers just before Karimov 
was due to give a speech there. The official narrative pinned responsibility on the Islamic Movement 
of Uzbekistan (IMU), though many at the time questioned this, including whether the regime itself 
was responsible.
186
 The result was huge pressure on devout Muslims, particularly those operating 
independently of the state backed Muslim Board, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of 
thousands often on allegations (both suspected and fabricated) of membership not only of the IMU 
but of the banned non-violent extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose adherents were often given long 
sentences and some of whom died in jail after torture.
187
 A similar witch hunt of devout Muslims 
took place in the wake of Andijan Massacre, with hundreds jailed on the grounds of alleged 
membership of Akromiya, supposedly an splinter group of Hizb ut-Tahrir headed by Andijan native 
Akrom Yo‘ldoshev, though there have been allegations that the organisation’s role was exaggerated 
or even its existence fabricated by the Government as a pretext for rounding up independent 
Muslims.
188
 
                                                           
184
 Nikita Makarenko, Twitter Post, Twitter, October 2019, https://twitter.com/nikmccaren/status/1181076815391137793 
185
 NHRC website: http://nhrc.uz/  
186
 A terrorist group founded by ethnic Uzbeks Tohir Yuldashev and Juma Namangani (Jumaboi Khodjiyev) who participated in the Civil War 
in Tajikistan and became enmeshed in the conflict in Afghanistan.   
187
 Eurasianet, Uzbekistan: Hizb ut-Tahrir trial a testbed for religious boundaries, May 2018, https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-hizb-ut-
tahrir-trial-a-testbed-for-religious-boundaries; Galima Bukharbaeva, Uzbek Prison Brutallity, IWPR, https://iwpr.net/global-voices/uzbek-
prison-brutality 
188
Sarah Kendzior, Inventing Akromiya: The Role of Uzbek Propagandists in the Andijon Massacre, Academia, 
https://www.academia.edu/170210/Inventing_Akromiya_The_Role_of_Uzbek_Propagandists_in_the_Andijon_Massacre; Jeffrey Donovan, 
Former Uzbek Spy Accuses Government Of Massacres, Seek Asylum, RFE/RL, September 2008, 
https://www.rferl.org/a/Former_Uzbek_Spy_Seeks_Asylum/1195372.html 

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Spotlight on Uzbekistan 
39 
 
 
Under Mirziyoyev, many of the systems put in place under the Karimov era but for the most part the 
pressure on religious activity has eased substantially. One of the early acts of the new regime was to 
remove 16,000 members of an alleged 17,000 strong watch list of suspected religious extremists 
being kept under surveillance, while HRW have reported that the Prison Authorities claim hundreds 
of independent Muslims had been released it is impossible to confirm the number of prisoners 
currently incarcerated for religious offenses.
189
 Many of those given Presidential pardons in May 
2020 to celebrate Eid al-Fitr had previously been jailed for religious offenses.
190
 Uzbekistan has been 
removed from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) list of countries of 
particular concern, instead recommending that it remain on its ‘Special Watch List’.
191
 The overall 
number of raids, fines and other punishments have been reduced. However, there are concerns that 
more recently the numbers on the ‘blacklist’ have increased and that during the COVID-19 pandemic 
there have been security sweep focused on Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Fergana Valley.
192
  
 
Uzbekistan is yet to deliver on its 2018 pledge, made following the visit of the Special Rapporteur on 
Freedom of Religion or belief to revise the 1998 Law on Religion, and earlier drafts seen by 
campaigners were deemed not to contain many major improvements.
193
 The current law states that 
‘Citizens' of the Republic of Uzbekistan (except a registered religious organisation's ministers) cannot 
appear in public places in religious attire, with the implementing regulations providing the options of 
fines of between five to ten times the monthly minimum wage or up to 15 days administrative 
detention though there is no definition of ‘religious attire’.
194
 In practice the ‘religious attire’ 
provisions have allowed police, institutions and local authorities to attempt to prevent the wearing 
of the hijab or for younger and middle aged men to have long or bushy beards. Although there is 
some uncertainty about the national direction of travel in 2019, there have been public efforts at 
Tashkent to prevent children from wearing the hijab on school property while students at the Islamic 
University (and other institutions) have been expelled for insisting on wearing them, while beards of 
men at markets in Namangan and Tashkent were forcibly shaved.
195
 While these prohibitions exist 
there does seem to be an attempt to enforce them in a less heavy-handed manner, however Muslim 
activist Tulkun Astanov was sentenced to five years suspended sentence for his efforts at lobbying 
the Muslim board over the hijab ban which included materials the authorities deemed extremist.
196
 
                                                           
189
 HRW, Charting Progress in Mirziyoyev’s Uzbekistan, October 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/07/charting-progress-
mirziyoyevs-uzbekistan; Eurasianet, Uzbekistan: Hizb ut-Tahrir trial a testbed for religious boundaries, May 2018, 
 https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-hizb-ut-tahrir-trial-a-testbed-for-religious-boundaries; USCIRF 2020 Annual Report, 
https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF%202020%20Annual%20Report_Final_42920.pdf  
190
 Kun.uz, Shavkat Mirziyoyev pardoned 258 convicts, May 2020, https://kun.uz/en/news/2020/05/22/shavkat-mirziyoyev-pardoned-258-
convicts  
191
 USCIRF 2020 Annual Report, https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF%202020%20Annual%20Report_Final_42920.pdf; 
Catherine Putz, US Religious Freedom Report Signals Improvements in Uzbekistan, The Diplomat, April 2020, 
https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/us-religious-freedom-report-signals-improvements-in-uzbekistan/ 
192
 Eurasianet, Uzbekistan keeps up heat on marginal Islamic groups, May 2020, https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-keeps-up-heat-on-
marginal-islamic-groups?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 
193
 OHCHR, UN expert welcomes Uzbekistan roadmap to ensure freedom of religion or belief, June 2018, 
https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23179&LangID=E; Mushfig Bayram and Felix Corley, 
Uzbekistan: When will draft Religion Law be made public?, Forum 18, June 2020, http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2576  
194
 The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan On Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations (New Versin), 
https://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/uzbeklaw.html; HRW, Laws and Rules Regulating Religious Attire, 1999, 
https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/uzbekistan/uzbek-03.htm 
195
 RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Uzbek Teachers Get Tough Assignment: ‘Remove Their Hijabs, But Don’t Hurt Their Feelings’, RFE/RL, October 
2019, https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbek-teachers-get-tough-assignment-remove-their-hijabs-but-don-t-hurt-their-feelings-/30208276.html; 
Eurasianet, Uzbekistan: Supporters of Islamic clothing take battle to court, March 2019, https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-supporters-of-
islamic-clothing-take-battle-to-court; RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Fresh Anti-Beard Campaign Reported In Uzbekistan, RFE/RL, September 
2019, https://www.rferl.org/a/fresh-anti-beard-campaign-uzbekistan/30186953.html; RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Uzbek Men Reportedly 
Detained, Forced To Shave Beards, RFE/RL, August 2019, https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbek-men-reportedly-detained-forced-to-shave-
beards/30129899.html  
196
 The Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, T. About Astanov’s Case, January 2020, http://sud.uz/28-01-2020-8959698959698/; 
Mushfig Bayram, Uzbekistan: Muslim activist’s sentence imminent?, Forum 18, October 19, 
http://forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2513; Sentenced under 244 d) of the Criminal Code for the Production or storage for the 
purpose of disseminating materials containing ideas of religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism, calls for pogroms or forced 

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Spotlight on Uzbekistan 
40 
 
The Governor of Fergana Shuhrat Ghaniev was reprimanded for linking the hijab and beards to 
Islamic Extremism as part of a rant that talked of his work trying to stop their use in his region.
197
   
 
As with independent NGOs, registering religious organisations is proving challenging with Shia 
Mosques and some protestant groups struggling to register without bribes. Jehovah’s Witnesses face 
similar registration challenges, amid rumours of efforts to ban adherents, and have had appeals to 
the ombudsman rejected.
198
 International religious freedom organisation Forum 18 have 
documented how state control over participation in the Haj is used as both a mechanism of control 
over Muslims outside of state structures and an opportunity for corruption.
199
 Even during the COVID 
lockdown raids on unsanctioned religious materials have continued.
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