Karimov's Crackdown

Uzbek president Islam Karimov doesn't take kindly to criticism. He's branded opponents as Islamic extremists and imprisoned over 6,000 of them in a penal system where, according to the U.S. State Department and the U.N., torture is "routine" and "systematic." But after the Uzbek military reportedly killed at least 500 people after an uprising in Andijan two weeks ago, Karimov is under fire from a source that's more difficult to suppress: the international community.

The British have called for an investigation into the shootings, as have the U.N. and the European Union. Craig Murray, the ambassador Britain recalled from Tashkent last year, says that Karimov is "indignant now that anyone should have the temerity to criticize him."

The Uzbek government insists that a total of 169 people died in the confrontation — but not one civilian was killed by government forces, according to Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov. Andijan is still sealed off from the outside world, though, and hundreds of refugees have fled over the border into Kyrgyzstan. A group of diplomats and journalists was allowed to make a brief, tightly controlled visit last week, but they saw little. "There are still lots of troops on the streets," says Abdukadir Sattarov, an Andijan resident.

Andijan could be a turning point in the resistance to Karimov's rule. Prominent local businessmen took up arms, and the revolt could also attract the involvement of battle-hardened Uzbek fighters from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ( imu). "Andijan has in a single stroke revitalized the imu," says Alexey Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center. A senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow says Karimov should "turn toward a course of reform and democratization." Asked if there was any hope of that happening, the diplomat replied: "I can't say that anyone is that optimistic about that."