Relatives of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov from the city of Djizak already kicked up a scandal upon discovering secret services' interest in their family in early August.
Margarita Karimova, the mother of independent journalist Jamshid Karimov, had specialists of the Djizak Municipal Directorate of Internal Affairs remove all bugs installed at her place a year ago.
Colonel Marat Holturdiyev of the Djizak Regional Directorate of the National Security Service denied his subordinates' involvement and said in a rude manner that it would be real nice to have everyone minding his or her own business.
Sources in Djizak report that Jamshid, journalist and the president's nephew, is essentially under house arrest now. Jamshid Karimov is known for his critical pieces on the local and central authorities.
The journalist was arrested on a visit to the Tashkent Department of Passports and Visas he appealed for a foreign visa to. All formal examinations should have been over long ago, but Karimov is not given his passport back.
Officials of the Tashkent Department of Passports and Visas attribute the delay to the fact that they need a permit from the National Security Service first and this latter is certainly taking its time. The same officials admit, however, that the delay is something unprecedented indeed because Karimov has never had any troubles with the law.
Margarita Karimova appealed to the National Security Service and the president, but her son remains without the passport all the same.
Djizak Hokim [the head of regional administration] Ubaidulla Yamankulov paid a visit to the Karimovs on August 31. Yamankulov certainly believes in carving a straight path to his objective. He began with offering Jamshid Karimov the post of correspondent of the Tashkent newspapers Mulkdor and Tasvir in the Djizak region. The journalist turned the offer down.
When it became clear that the obstinate journalist wouldn't be bought, regional administration sicced secret services on him.
The police installed a contraption looking like a radar in the house across the street from the Karimovs' place and aimed at it. The general opinion is that this is a listening device.
Jamshid Karimov is under constant surveillance. Two cars with four policemen in each are always parked not far from the Karimovs'. They follow the journalist everywhere.
Lacking the passport, Karimov cannot visit a foreign country where he hoped to attend a regional journalistic seminar or tour Uzbekistan at will.
