BERLIN — Human rights officials expressed concern this week over the widespread use of torture in Uzbek prisons and called on Western governments to impose sanctions on and end dealings with the former Soviet republic’s autocratic regime.
“Uzbekistan really has very few rivals in the world as a country where torture exists,” said Steve Swerdlow, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who wrote a report on Uzbekistan’s abuses. “It’s one of the classic totalitarian police states left in the world today.”.
