Uzbek Journalist Freed after 5 Years in Jail for 'Extremism'

A popular Uzbek journalist who hosted a radio show on Islam has been released under a presidential amnesty after serving five years in jail on religious extremism charges, relatives told Agence France-Presse Thursday.

Khayrullo Hamidov, 39, was sentenced to six years in jail in May 2010 under a law banning "illegal establishment of public associations or religious organizations" in the majority-Muslim Central Asian country.

"Khayrullo was freed yesterday," his mother Mukaddas told AFP by phone."We are all so happy and thank our president for amnestying him."

Uzbek President Islam Karimov declared an amnesty to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Constitution. It is unclear how many prisoners will fall under the amnesty.

International watchdog groups and Western governments have highlighted Hamidov's case along with those of other journalists and rights defenders imprisoned in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan.

Hamidov was a popular football commentator but was also well-known for his weekly discussions of religious affairs on a private radio station, Navruz, recordings of which were circulated by fans via mobile phones.

One widely-read religiously-themed publication that Hamidov published and edited, "Among the People", was closed down by state authorities in 2007.

Hamidov also wrote about the problems of Uzbek migrant workers living in difficult conditions in Russia and Kazakhstan, and criticized Uzbek intellectuals for their silence on the issue.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly listed Uzbekistan as a "country of particular concern" in its annual International Religious Freedom Report. This month, Reporters Without Borders placed Uzbekistan 166 out of 180 countries on its World Press Freedom Index.

Uzbekistan's secular leadership, headed by 77-year-old Karimov, defends its approach towards religious groups, citing the threat from Islamic extremists based in neighboring Afghanistan.