The ISHR mourns the death of its representative in the Uzbek section, former political prisoner and award-winning journalist

Salidjon Abdurakhmanov
(+28.05.1950 † 26.07.2025) 

Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, July 29, 2025 – Uzbek journalist, human rights defender, and representative of the ISHR Uzbekistan section Salidjon Abdurakhmanov has died at the age of 75. The ISHR mourns the loss of a veteran of the Uzbek democracy movement. Our thoughts are with his family, and we express our deepest sympathy.

For decades, Salidjon Abdurakhmanov was one of the most important independent voices in his country – courageous, persistent, and unwavering in his commitment to freedom of expression, social justice, and the rights of the Karakalpak minority.

Salidjon Abdurakhmanov was arrested in 2008 on trumped-up charges for his critical reporting and sentenced to ten years in prison by the autocratic regime of then-President Ilham Karimov.

The draconian sentence sparked outrage in the international community and made him one of Uzbekistan’s most prominent political prisoners at the time.

In 2014, he was awarded the Johann Philipp Palm Prize for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press in absentia. Christoph Strässer, Member of the German Bundestag and former Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, said:

“I am delighted … that the Palm Foundation is today awarding this year’s Johann Philipp Palm Prize for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press to an outstanding journalist … Salidjon Abdurakhmanov is a shining example of courageous commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of the media … Until his arrest, he was an independent journalist, one of the few critical voices in Uzbek public life …”

Salidjon Abdurakhmanov was a “passionate” journalist and human rights defender, and remains so even after ten years in an Uzbek prison, which marked his life: “The developments in my country after my release prompted me to pick up a microphone and a pencil.” These were his “working tools.”

To avoid being imprisoned again, Abdurakhmanov fled to Germany in 2019 and has been living in Berlin ever since, where he remained an important voice for tens of thousands of Karakalpaks and was a sought-after expert for the international community:  Just at the beginning of this month, he reported in an IGFM webinar on the third anniversary of the bloody suppression of mass protests in Karakalpakstan in July 2022.  The suppression resulted in fatal shootings by state forces, with at least 20 deaths and many opposition figures sentenced to draconian prison terms.

Abdurakhmanov’s rehabilitation in Uzbekistan was always a matter close to his heart, but this was denied him both under President Karimov and under his successor Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

With Salidjon Abdurakhmanov, we have lost a veteran of the Uzbek democracy movement, a very venerable, humble, and courageous human rights activist.

Rest in peace!