Uznews, Tashkent, 03 Sep 2008 – Ikram Yakubov, a former operative of the Uzbek National Security Service (MXX) who was from the inner circle of President Islam Karimov, has given a sensational interview to Radio Liberty in which he accused the president of unleashing a massacre in Andijan and committing other crimes.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Ikram Yakubov, 27, a former member of the MXX with a 10-year experience who served in the Foreign Ministry and the country’s Security Council, arrived in London on 1 September where he asked the British authorities to grant him political asylum.
After Yakubov found a safe refuge, Radio Liberty published his interview on which the radio’s journalists have been working for two months, checking his identity and the accuracy of his information and recording the story of his work in Uzbekistan’s dirtiest power-yielding structure – the MXX.
Yakubov said he had fled Uzbekistan at the beginning of this year after he had realised that he could not “work for the executioner”, how he described Islam Karimov, any more. He reported to Karimov directly, acquainting him with Security Council reports on the most important events in the country and the world.
“When I worked inside Karimov’s government, I’ve seen a lot of illegal things, terrible things, horrible things,” Yakubov told Radio Liberty. “How they are creating accusations [against] people; how they are killing, murdering people, simple people, simple believers in Islam; how they are creating fear among the population.”
However, the main crime of the Islam Karimov regime was committed in Andijan on 13 May 2005 when government troops opened fire on a rally in the town centre, killing hundreds of people, Yakubov believes.
Yakubov told the radio that Karimov directly ordered senior military officers to instruct troops to fire on protesters in Andijan, killing more than 1,500 people.
He said the bulk of his information on the Andijan massacre came from discussions with a senior MXX officer who participated in the events of 13 May 2005. According to this source, forces under the command of Mahmud Khudayberdiyev, a former Tajik colonel wanted by Tajik officials for his role in an alleged coup attempt in 1998, fired on the protesters on Karimov’s direct orders.
Khudayberdiyev and his forces are now part of an elite guard that protects Karimov and his daughters, Yakubov said. This guard is also tasked with ensuring that one daughter, Gulnara Karimova, successfully takes power after the death of her 70-year-old father, who may have leukaemia, according to Yakubov’s sources.
Yakubov also accused the Uzbek government of pursuing a policy of “false flag” terrorism by orchestrating attacks and then blaming them on Islamist militants in an effort to demonise the opposition and win foreign support.
The government blamed the explosions on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a US State Department-designated terrorist group, and Hizb-ut Tahrir, an organisation that eschews violence but seeks Islamic rule in Central Asia. Yakubov said that after speaking to an operational officer directly involved in the bombings, he realised that the government itself had prepared them.
Yakubov told the radio that the regime itself had propped up many alleged extremist groups and their leaders, including Tahir Yuldash, the purported IMU leader, and Akram Yuldash, the alleged spiritual leader of Akramia, the group Uzbek authorities blamed for sparking the unrest in Andijan.
“Akram Yuldash, Tahir Yuldash – these are specially created men by MXX,” Yakubov said. “IMU also [was] created by MXX, according to the order of Karimov. Tahir Yuldash has a very close contact with Karimov, and Tahir Yuldash [carries out] the orders of Karimov.”
Yakubov added that he had seen classified papers addressed to Karimov stating that Yuldash himself killed Juma Namangani, his predecessor as IMU leader, in order to take sole leadership of the organisation. Namangani was reportedly killed in Afghanistan during the US-led offensive to oust the Taliban in 2001, but his body has never been found.
He expects Tashkent to issue a warrant for his arrest through Interpol, the international law-enforcement agency, and if he is extradited, he will face serious charges and the death penalty.
He told Radio Liberty that the charges were likely to include treason, cooperation with foreign intelligence, and supporting action against the constitutional order. “Maybe it really seems like treason. But I want to say this: I do not recognise Islam Karimov as the legal president of Uzbekistan. Please, publish these words,” Yakubov said.
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