Uzbek President's Daughter Given Deputy Job In State Media Agency

TASHKENT -- The eldest daughter of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has been appointed deputy head of the newly established presidential Press and Information Agency that oversees communications and media regulation, the agency said on April 12.

According to the statement, the chief of the presidential office, Zainilobiddin Nizomiddinov, said at an official gathering in Tashkent that Saida Mirziyoeva will be responsible for promoting “Uzbekistan's positive image abroad" and "coordination of state bodies' press services."

Mirziyoeva joins a cohort of offspring of Central Asian leaders given senior government posts.

Last month, former President Nursultan Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha Nazarbaeva, was elected speaker of Kazakhstan's upper house of parliament a day after her father announced his resignation.

Mirziyoeva replaced a government official who was forced to take a leave of absence and was placed under police protection after she received death threats following an online post she made referring to polygamy and the Prophet Muhammad.

Mirziyoev established the Press and Information Agency in February, tasking it with coordinating communications by state bodies and safeguarding media freedoms.

The president has two daughters and a son.

Mirziyoev's second daughter, Shakhnoza, holds a midlevel post in the Preschool Education Ministry.

Little is known about Mirziyoev's son, Miralisher, other than that he is much younger than his sisters.

Mirziyoev took over leadership of Central Asia's most populous nation, with some 32 million people, in 2016 following the death of President Islam Karimov, who had run it for 27 years

His elder son-in-law, Oybek Tursunov, is a deputy head of the presidential administration's directorate and the second son-in-law, Otabek Shakhanov, is the head of the presidential security services.

With reporting by Reuters and Interfax