Uzbekistan removes 16,000 people from blacklist of potential Muslim extremists
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TASHKENT - Uzbekistan has removed about 16,000 people from a 17,000-strong security blacklist of potential Muslim religious extremists, its president said on Friday, in what appears to be part of efforts to pursue more liberal policies in the ex-Soviet republic.
Western countries and rights groups have long criticized Tashkent's record on democracy and human rights and have accused it of using the blacklist indiscriminately to stifle political and religious dissent in the mainly Muslim nation of 32 million.
Uzbek state media reported this month that a campaign to strike many people off the blacklist was under way, but its scale - as well as the size of the blacklist - had not been known.
"There were well over 17,000 people who were on the list for being involved in (extremist) religious trends and after talking to them again we have removed 16,000 from the religious (extremist) list," President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on state television.
