Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the sentencing by an Uzbek court of blogger Olimjon Haidarov to eight years in prison on charges of extortion, defamation, and libel. Haidarov, who was arrested in late July, was sentenced in the Ferghana region on December 1. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. "The court decision to jail Haidarov for eight years, including on freedom of expression offenses, will have a chilling effect on free speech and media freedoms in Uzbekistan," HRW's Mihra Rittmann said in a statement on December 5.
