People carry a coffin during a mourning ceremony following the death of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, in Registan Square in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, September 3, 2016.
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The Uzbek government did not immediately confirm the reports.
Some human rights groups say the Uzbek government is one of the most repressive in the world, notably after a crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005, when hundreds were killed.
Several opposition news outlets based overseas claimed that Karimov died some time prior to the announcement of his demise, with the government holding back the news in a manner reminiscent of the silence surrounding the deaths of Communist Party bosses during the Soviet era.
Karimov s body was to be flown to Samarkand airport, which on Saturday will be closed to all flights except those with special permission.
Three unnamed diplomatic sources cited by Reuters claimed that Karimov had died of a stroke, and the news agency also reported that Karimov’s counterpart in Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, cancelled a visit to China on Friday in order to visit Uzbekistan instead. The leader, who has not been seen in public this week, has been dubbed “Schroedinger’s Karimov”, as the state of his health continues to be a mystery.
As revealed by The New York Times, Islam Karimov’s daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva expressed her grief via Instagram late Friday night.
The 78-year-old dictator, whose death was announced on Friday after he suffered a stroke, had led the ex-Soviet nation since 1989.
Long condemned by rights groups as one of the region s most brutal despots who ruthlessly stamped out opposition, Karimov was one of a handful of Soviet strongmen that clung to power after their homelands gained independence from Moscow in 1991.
Given the lack of access to the strategic country, it is hard to judge how powerful the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan might be. The US President Barack Obama remind in a statement the US remained “committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, and to a future based on the rights of all its citizens”.
Under Uzbek law, after the death of a president the head of the senate takes the reins temporarily until an election is held within three months.
Karimov was known as a tyrant with an explosive temper and a penchant for cruelty.
But over a decade on, Uzbekistan still receives USA aid and both Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have jetted in for talks over the past year.
An United Nations report has described the utilization of torture under Mr Karimov as “organized”.
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The end of Karimov’s monolithic presidency leaves no apparent successor, as well as concern that the ensuing political uncertainty could leave an opening for Islamic extremists to coalesce.
