³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

It is now over two weeks that ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Uzbek reporter, Urunboy Usmonov has been in prison in Tajikistan. He is accused of having links with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an illegal Islamist group widespread in Central Asia.

Hamid Ismailov, Editor of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Central Asian Service, who's been in Tajikistan this week, making Uruboy's case with Tajik authorities, was allowed to visit him in jail briefly yesterday. He rang just after he came out. "I was shocked to see Urunboy so frail" he said, "he was quiet and withdrawn and his eyes were fixed on the security officers, while I was talking to him".

Hamid tried to reassure Urunboy that everyone in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ supports him and that messages of support are coming from all over the world - from fellow journalists, major international media organizations, human rights NGOs, and senior politicians and diplomats, who have been pressing Tajik authorities to release him. "I'm not sure whether Urunboy was hearing me", he said.

On the day the news of Urunboy's arrest came, those of us who know him were telling everyone that we know he is innocent. None of us knew then what exactly he was arrested for and what evidence the security agents had against him. We only knew that they had picked him up and kept him overnight, had brought him home in the morning, battered and beaten, had turned over his house, and had taken him away again along with some "evidence".

Two weeks on, we now know that the evidence against Urunboy is a few books and computer files on Hizb ut-Tahrir, and that he had met a few members of the group to interview them, without telling the security authorities. This is nothing other than routine, common practice for any serious and independent journalist. But Uruboy is in jail for it, frail and frightened.

I have been wondering these last two weeks whether, working in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ in London, we are taking too much for granted. And whether independent, impartial journalism means anything in the world of the security officers in Khojand, where Urunboy is based. But all they need to do is to read what Urunboy has been writing and reporting for over 30 years to see that he would simply be unable to belong to any group which would see the world through a narrow dogmatic ideology.

If this sounds too abstract, I would quote a thoughtful comment from one of Urunboy's colleagues in Tajikistan in a report for Persian TV. He showed clips of Urunboy, singing and dancing with a large group of women in his family at his son's wedding. "This does not seem compatible with the forbidding world of Hizb ut-Tahrir", commented the reporter in a "measured" and "dispassionate" ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ tone.

This is the Urunboy we all know. Cheerful, gentle, generous, tolerant, utterly honest and open minded. His small office in Khojand is the best place to visit if you want to meet all kinds of interesting people and find out what's going on over a cup of tea.

His essays and novels, and his reporting for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has recorded the great social and political upheavals in his country with compassion and understanding, informed by his broad and sophisticated view of the world.

This is why from day one we all believed he is innocent, and we will do everything we can to get him released. We hope very much that he will soon be able to return to his family, and to continue writing and reporting.

Behrouz Afagh is head of Middle East and west/central Asia at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service.