Uzbekistan Says U.S. Human Rights Report 'Biased'

Prisoners on trial in Uzbekistan (file photo) (RFE/RL)

March 13, 2007 -- Uzbekistan says a U.S. government report claiming prisoners in Uzbekistan are routinely tortured is "biased and counterproductive."

The annual U.S. State Department report on human rights practices, released last week, also said President Islam Karimov's government arbitrarily arrests its critics, stifles independent media, and convicts peaceful Muslims on trumped-up extremism charges.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that the ongoing attempts of the State Department to replicate "trite facts and statements" that have already been refuted many times are "pitiful."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted in a similar tone, saying the U.S. State Department report had a "biased, politicized, and confrontational character."

(AP)