Uzbek Three

Image Shahlo Rakhmonova (f)

Image Mehriniso Hamdamova (f)

Image Zulkhumor Hamdamova (f)

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Mehriniso Hamdamova, Zulkhumor Hamdamova and Shahlo Rakhmonova, all women, were convicted in April 2010 on criminal charges of threatening the constitutional order, public security, and public order because they had conducted private religious instruction of girls. Mehriniso Hamdamova, a teacher at an officially approved women's religion course at Karshi's Kuk Gumbaz Mosque, was sentenced to seven years in a prison camp; her sister Zulkhumor Hamdamova, and their relative Shahlo Rakhmonova, each received six-and-a-half-year terms.

Shahlo Rakhmonova, Mehriniso Hamdamova and Zulkhumor Hamdamova have been RELEASED.

Updates:

• Shahlo Rakhmonova was released on an amnesty in 2012 (2014, Human Rights Watch)
• Sisters Zulkhumor and Mehriniso Hamdamova were freed after more than eight years in prison (April 13, 2018, Forum 18).