Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000 - Uzbekistan
- Author: Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
- Document source:
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Date:
30 April 2001
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) infiltrated fighters into mountainous areas of Surkhandar'inskaya Oblast southern Uzbekistan during the spring and summer of 2000. Uzbekistani military forces discovered the fighters and drove them back into Tajikistan. Tohir Yuldashev and Juma Khodjiev (a.k.a. Juma Namangani), the leaders of the IMU, were tried in absentia together with 10 other persons accused of terrorism or anticonstitutional activity. All defendants were convicted at a trial that failed to conform to international standards for the protection of the human rights of the defendants. The court sentenced Yuldashev and Khodjiev to death and the remaining defendants to prison terms. On 25 September, the United States designated the IMU a Foreign Terrorist Organization, citing both its armed incursions into Uzbekistan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan and its taking of foreign hostages, including US citizens.
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