Reporters Without Borders ranks Uzbekistan 166th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom, noting that “Karimov subjects his country to the strictest censorship”.
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Islam Karimov, whose harsh and ill-tempered rule governed Uzbekistan for a quarter of a century, is to be buried in his home city of Samarkand.
The funeral of 78-year old leader will be overseen by Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, seen as his potential successor.
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.
After news emerged that Karimov was in hospital rumours flew that Azimov had been placed under house arrest, but they were quickly denied and he has been named as part of Karimov’s funeral committee.
The decision is expected to be made by a small group of senior officials and family members behind closed doors.
State television in the tightly-controlled nation showed soldiers loading a coffin onto a plane for what it described as Karimov’s final journey to Samarkand.
Karimov’s authoritarian rule came under fire over accusations of heinous rights abuses, most prominently over bloodshed in the city of Andijan in 2005, but the most serious threats to his reign came from far closer to home.
“He was our dear president, who did so much for our country, things that we could not even see or know about”, one woman interviewed, wiping tears from her eyes.
Technocrat Mirziyoyev, who has served as prime minister since 2003, is reported to have close ties to the former president’s family and to key security bosses.
“The death of Islam Karimov may open a pretty risky period of unpredictability and uncertainty in Uzbekistan”, Pushkov told the Tass news agency on Friday.
Karimov became leader of Uzbekistan in 1989 when it was a Soviet republic, then held power with ruthless determination throughout all of Uzbekistan’s independence.
Citing an Islamist threat, Karimov cracked down ruthlessly on anyone deemed to be a religious extremist.
Human Rights Watch calls the country’s human rights record “atrocious”, saying “thousands are imprisoned on politically-motivated charges”.
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“His pass away is a great loss of the Uzbek people”. Karimov put the death toll at 169 and said his forces had put down an armed uprising.
