Torture on the rise in Uzbekistan?

RFE/RL headlined a story on torture in Uzbekistan “Torture Increasingly Prevalent in Uzbekistan, Human Rights Experts Say.” Maybe, I’m missing something, but I can’t for the life of me see where in the story that anyone says anything of the sort. I also can’t find where any evidence of a rise in torture is mentioned. I do see cause for concern in the redefinition of Article 235, which I’m taking on good faith will more or less legalize torture.

Everything that the three human rights activists mention is worth worrying about, and many of the issues are ones that many watchers of Uzbekistan already know about. I find nothing wrong with their end of the story, though I would slightly disagree with Ponomaryov’s characterization of recent developments.

It makes it even harder to buy the story’s headline when it ends saying that the most recent State Department human rights report says there are 6,800 political prisoners in Uzbekistan. It actually says 5,000 to 5,500 at the end of the year.

It would be great if an author’s name was attached to this story. RFE/RL’s Central Asia reporting runs circles around almost everyone else’s, but on this one, they’ve unfortunately sunk down to a much lower standard of quality.

UPDATE: Because Volodymyr Campaign passed the story on without comment, I decided to give it a second reading. I’m still not seeing what RFE/RL’s reporter claims in the headline or introduction. If the activists said that torture is on the rise or presented evidence, why not cite the support? There’s no reason to exaggerate an already bad situation.