Watchdog

Activists in a suburb of the Russian capital say a newspaper editor who has criticized local authorities has been severely beaten and may not survive.

A group called the Khimki Forest Defense Movement says Mikhail Beketov was hospitalized after a neighbor found him unconscious near his home in the Khimki district outside Moscow on November 13.

The state-run RIA-Novosti news agency cited a hospital official as saying his condition was extremely grave. The activist group said Beketov has often criticized Khimki authorities and has battled to protect forested areas.

The International PEN organization has urged Uzbek President Islam Karimov to release five jailed Uzbek writers and journalists.

PEN's English center program coordinator, Cat Lucas, has told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that PEN has sent a letter to Karimov expressing concern about the situation of jailed writers and journalists Jamshid Karimov, Mamadali Makhmudov, Muhammad Bekjon, Yusuf Juma, and Solijon Abdurakhmonov. All five are considered political prisoners by human rights organizations.

Lucas said PEN has previously sent letters to Karimov asking him to release jailed writers and journalists, but the letters have not been answered.

PEN is an international organization that unites the world's writers and seeks to defend freedom of expression.