The resulting crackdowns have resulted in gross human rights abuses. We investigate the anger on the streets. When President Karimov opened his nation’s airspace to the US military, Uzbekistan became America’s new best friend. The Uzbek government says it is a victim of terrorism carried out by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. But as reporter Marcel Theroux uncovers, things aren’t what they seem. Driving through the bleak countryside, the roads are littered with checkpoints manned by the army and security police. Arbitrary arrest and torture are commonPlace. So is the planting of evidence. We meet a woman whose sons and husband are sentenced to death for being terrorists. “The trial was illegal. Everything in this country is illegal” she says. The only way to find out if her sons are still alive is by her daily visits to the registry for births and deaths. We visit a Uzbek prison, notorious for awful conditions and brutal treatment. The three prisoners we meet, watched closely by a KGB officer speak only of good treatment. It is clear that the Uzbek government wanted to show that they were locking up common enemies and doing it humanely. A shocking picture of the injuries sustained by an imprisoned Muslim preacher suggests otherwise. We oppose terrorism to protect our liberty. But in Uzbekistan, it seems that it ends up with people terrified or dead.

A report by Marcel Theroux for Unreported World.

Produced by Mentorn