Arrest and Detention in Prague
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If I will be sent back to Uzbekistan, I will be killed. Definitely. |
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—Muhammad Salih, while awaiting decision on extradition in Pankrác Prison, December 7, 2001 |
On November 28, 2001 Salih arrived to Prague by plane from Amsterdam at the invitation of Radio Free Europe. The Czech police and Interpol arrested Salih at Ruzyně Airport due to international arrest warrant issued by the Uzbekistan Interpol bureau alleging Salih's participation in terrorist activities connected to bombings that killed 16 people in the capital, Tashkent, in 1999. At the time, Salih was also on US terrorist watchlist. Salih was detained at the Pankrác Prison, awaiting outcome of the extradition proceedings.
Salih had been granted political asylum in Norway, which ignored the international arrest warrant. The ambassador of Norway, Lasse Seim visited Salih in the remand prison.
Several international organizations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Helsinki Federation were calling for Salih's release. Jean-Claude Concolato, the Prague representative of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said that under the 1951 Geneva Convention, Mr. Salikh could not be deported if he was likely to face torture or imprisonment for his beliefs. The Czech interior minister, Stanislav Gross, said the police had no choice but to act on the international arrest warrant.
Salih was released from remand custody on December 11, 2001, under the condition that he stays in the country until the extradition proceedings are finished.
On December 14, 2001, the Prague Municipal Court ruled it will not extradite Salih to Uzbekistan, as the Uzbek authorities failed to prove that Salih would be given a fair hearing.
Salih commented that, at least, the arrest won him a meeting with the Czech president, Vaclav Havel, who had been himself jailed for 5 years during communist era, and therefore brought fresh attention to the beleaguered cause of campaigning for democracy in one of the authoritarian states of Central Asia.
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