E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 44 Alisher Khalikov, a 32-year-old father of three children, and his father were reportedly requested to come to the anti-terrorism department of the Namangan regional MVD office on 30 March 2000 by three officers who came to their home. As Alisher Khalikov was working in Tashkent, his father sent him a message to return to Namangan. On 31 March, Alisher Khalikov and his father went to the MVD office and spoke to a sub-colonel. Alisher Khalikov, who is a believer and prayed five times a day, was reportedly retained there. When his father asked why, he was told by an investigator to go home. Alisher Khalikov was allegedly accused of having given religious courses on Islam to two people in the neighbourhood. When his father returned the next day, he was reportedly told by the sub-colonel that they had the right to keep his son three days. His father is said to have returned three days later. In the meantime, Alisher Khalikov was allegedly beaten on the head with a handgun. As a result, it is reported that he had collapsed and had blood in his eyes and sores on his head. The investigators reportedly wanted to make him confess to having distributed 40-50 banned religious leaflets. As a result of the treatment he was subjected to, he reportedly signed a statement. After three days, he was said to have been released and summoned to the MVD office every day for 35 days and occasionally beaten there. After 35 days, a police officer reportedly came to their house and asked Alisher Khalikov to go to the regional MVD office to sign documents. His father accompanied him. At the city court, they were reportedly handed an accusation statement. The trial reportedly commenced the next day, on 5 May 2000. On the way back, his father saw the head of the neighbourhood council and a local policeman and asked them why they had done this to his son. The two reportedly stated that he had done something illegal. The trial solely lasted two days. Two witnesses were reportedly produced who stated that they had been taught Islam by Alisher Khalikov. During his court hearing, a State-appointed lawyer raised the allegations of torture, but was reportedly told by the judge to be quiet. The judge reportedly sentenced him to three and a half years. He was then said to have been led away in handcuffs, and his family reportedly did not know where he was for four months. They reportedly wrote to several MVD offices, who told them that they did not know where their son was. After writing to the procurator, his family found out that their son was in Karshi 64/49. It is believed that the parcels that they are sending him are not delivered to Alisher Khalikov. In prison, the latter was said to have been beaten, kicked and made to do push-ups by the guards, each time he attempted to pray. He is said not to be able to benefit from an amnesty as the prison authorities are said to note every day that he is violating internal prison rules (inter alia, by praying). The family is said to have appealed to the Supreme Court, stating that Alishek Khalikov was not a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Khodir Sobirov was reportedly arrested by three or four people in Tashkent on 16 April 2000, and taken to the MVD office in the Kirov district. There, he was allegedly severely beaten on his head by several officers. After a month, he was said to have been taken to Tashturma. When his wife visited him there with her children on 24 May 2000, he did not recognize her. During his trial from 16 to 26 August 2000, he told the judge that he had been severely beaten and named the alleged perpetrators. The judge reportedly ordered the court to bring the officers allegedly responsible. Only one is said to have come to court, who was then asked by the judge whether he knew Khodir Sobirov and whether he had beaten him. The