22 December 2002 -- Uzbek Ambassador to Turkmenistan Abdurashid Kadyrov recalled to Uzbekistan
21 December 2002 -- Turkmenistan declares Uzbek Ambassador Abdurashid Kadyrov persona non grata
19 December 2002 -- Deutsche Welle reports Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan strengthening their armed forces along the two countries' common border
19 December 2002 -- Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov denies Uzbek embassy in Ashgabat had any role in sheltering suspects
18 December 2002 -- Turkmen Prosecutor-General's office accuses Uzbek embassy of sheltering former Turkmen Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov
17 December 2002 -- Uzbek Foreign Ministry protests search of Uzbek embassy in Ashgabat
16 December 2002 -- 15 KNB officers (Kazakh security service) search and videotape the Uzbek embassy in Ashgabat
12 December 2002 -- Parliament passes two bills: one creates a bicameral parliament in December 2004, with a Senate and Legislative Chamber; the other gives the Senate certain presidential powers, including the appointment of a prime minister and deputy primse minister, the lower houses focuses on legislation
6 December 2002 -- UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Theo van Boven says his investigations have revealed that torture is widely used to terrorize government opponents and obtain confessions, says torture is "systemic" in Uzbekistan
25 November-6 December 2002 -- UN Special Rapporteur Theo van Boven visits to investigate accusations of torture
17 October 2002 --U.S.-based Freedom House opens office in Tashkent, British ambassador Craig Murray speaks at opening, saying, "Uzbekistan is not a functioning democracy, nor does it appear to be moving in the direction of democracy. The major political parties are banned; parliament is not subject to democratic election and checks and balances on the authority of the executive are lacking"
17 September 2002 -- Yuldash Rasulov, member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, sentenced to seven years in jail for allegedly recruiting members for banned religious groups, namely Jamo'at
3 September 2002 -- Tashkent court starts hearing case against Yuldash Rasulov, member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, charged with recruiting members for banned religious groups
27 August 2002 -- Police break up protest outside Justice Ministry, detaining at least five people, protesters were calling on President Karimov to end human rights violations
20 August 2002 -- Some 15 human rights activists stage protest against government corruption outside the Justice Ministry, police break it up quickly
15 August 2002 -- IT reports Ganjina Namangani, supposedly a/the wife of Juma Namangani (and who has one child by him) as saying he has been killed in Afghanistan
13 August 2002 -- Hussein Kamilov, the son of an IMU fighter killed in Afghanistan and himself recently returned from Pakistan, says the funeral of Juma Namangani was held in Afghanistan and was attended by his nearest associates, including Tohir Yuldash and Namangani's nephew, who buried the reportedly beheaded body
25 June 2002 -- Foreign Ministry says Uzbekistan has only suspended its membership in GUUAM, not withdrawn from the group
17 June 2002 -- U.S. State Department calls on Uzbekistan to rethink decision to pull out of GUUAM
14 June 2002 -- Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov announces Uzbekistan is leaving GUUAM
6 June 2002 -- Court sentences Margilan security chief Khamidjon Saidov, and security officers Abdurashid Mirzayev and Babur Fazylov to jail, 15 years for the first two, five years for the third, for the murder of 24-year-old Alimohammad Mamadaliyev during interrogation, Mamadaliyev was suspected of being a Hezb ut-Tahrir member
27 May 2002 -- Police use force to break up a demonstration in front of the Interior Ministry as protesters hold up signs demanding the release of 34-year-old Yuldash Rasulov, who was arrested on 24 May for alleged involvement in recruiting young men for extremist group Jamo'at, two members of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan dragged away
25 May 2002 -- Erk leader Atanazar Aripov detained by Interior Ministry just hours before a party meeting was expected to call on the government to loosen restrictions
24 May 2002 -- Police in Karshi arrest Yuldash Rasulov, an activist with the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, on charges of religious extremism
15 April 2002 -- John Schlosser, an official at the State Department's Non-Proliferation Bureau, tells international conference on terrorism and non-proliferation held in Tashkent that the United States will provide $30 million to Central Asian states in 2002 to fight trafficking in weapons of mass destruction and another $20 million to Uzbekistan to strengthen export controls, says eight attempts to smuggle radioactive material were stopped on the borders of Central Asia during the past year
11 April 2002 -- U.S. State Department says it "regretted" what appeared to be the "arbitrary extension" of the president's term in office
5 April 2002 -- "Kommersant" (6 April) reports President Karimov tells parliament and journalists that the U.S. has done for Uzbekistan what no CIS partner could have, after five years of living with the threat of the Taliban, "the decisive role in removing this threat on Uzbekistan southern borders was played by the U.S., exclusively"
4-5 April 2002 -- "Vremya MN" (6 April) reports session of the Oliy Majlis, during which it adopted January referendum results and set the next presidential elections for December 2007, RTR says date is 23 December 2007
4 April 2002 -- President Karimov says Pakistan harboring IMU members, says Tohir Yuldash is in Pakistan
12-15 March 2002 -- President Karimov in United States, meets with U.S. President George W. Bush, agreement signed for United States to help Uzbekistan transport enriched uranium to Russia
4 March 2002 -- Justice Ministry registers the Independent Human Rights Organization after 10 years of refusals
12 February 2002 -- Prosecutor-General's office says four policemen have been sentenced to 20 years in prison for beating a suspected terrorist to death while interrogating him, Tashkent courts finds Nuritdin Babayev, Shavkat Rakhmonberdiyev, Mukhitdin Nagimov, and Yashin Gafurov guilty of killing Ravshan Khaitov in October 2001
30 January 2002 -- U.S. State Department announces United States will give Uzbekistan $160 million in aid in 2003
27 January 2002 -- Referendum held on extending the presidential term and transforming parliament from unicameral to bicameral, officially, 92 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, 91 percent voted for presidential term extension
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