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Sulaimanov, Khabibullo

Gender: .
State of concern: .

Who, Why and How exiled:

Fled Uzbekistan for Kyrgyzstan in 2001, fearing religious persecution. He had been working as an imam (HRW,  2013; Radio Free Europe, 2013).

Category of exile: . (Definitions here.)
Alleged affiliation: Alleged religious extremist.

Which stages experienced: Stage 1   Stage 2   not Stage 3. (Definitions here.)
Date of most serious incident: 2012.
Violence experienced: .

Stage 1 details (accusations/ charges/ Interpol notice/ extradition requests):

Uzbek authorities ordered his extradition from Kyrgyzstan in November 2012. He was charged with leading, organising or participating in a religious extremist organisation, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and illegal border crossing (HRW, 2013).

Stage 2 details (arrest/ detention/ extradition):

Arrested and detained in October 2012 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, pending his extradition (HRW, 2013; Radio Free Europe, 2013).

His extradition order was annulled by the Kyrgyz courts in March 2013 due to fears of ill-treatment if he was returned to Uzbekistan. However, he was immediately detained again and transferred to a prison in Osh, close to the Uzbek border. The new charges apparently related to his illegal border crossing in 2012 (Corley, 2013).

International arrest warrant: .

Countries of transit, asylum and/or residence: .

Legal status (refugee/ asylum seeker/ resident):

Applied for asylum in Kyrgyzstan in November 2012 (Human Rights Watch, 2013).

He was eventually accepted as a refugee (Corley, 2013).

Current status:

Sulaimanov was for unexplained reasons immediately transferred to a National Security Committee (NSC) secret police prison in the southern city of Osh, where he faces new Kyrgyz criminal accusations ( Corley,2013).


Press sources:

Felix Corley, 2013. "KYRGYZSTAN: Extradition overturned, but new charges and transfer to prison close to Uzbekistan," Forum 18 News Service, March 11, 2013. [Online]. Available at: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1812;

Human Rights Watch,2013.  "Kyrgyzstan: Stop Extradition to Uzbekistan," February 4, 2013. [Online]. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/04/kyrgyzstan-stop-extradition-uzbekistan.

Radio Free Europe,2013. "Гражданин РУз просит убежище в Кыргызстане", 14 January, 2013.[Online]. Available at: https://rus.azattyk.org/a/kyrgyzstan_uzbekistan_rights/24823021.html