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Uzbek Dictator Karimov Suffers Brain Haemorrhage

Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov, who has built his authoritarian rule on warnings of a militant Islamist threat to the Central Asian region, suffered a brain hemorrhage on Saturday and is in stable condition in intensive care, his daughter said.

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Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s daughter said on Wednesday (Aug 31) that her father was recovering from a brain haemorrhage, countering speculation that he had died.

“I will be very grateful to those people, who will support my father in their prayers”, she wrote.

The government on Sunday announced that the leader, long dogged by rumours of ill health, had been hospitalised, without giving details.

When the Union collapsed in 1991 Karimov became president of an independent Uzbekistan.

Reports of Karymov’s death remain unconfirmed at present, but worldwide media and the Uzbek government claim he’s in the hospital.

The favorite is Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the country’s prime minister, Kislov said in an interview, noting his friendly relations with Karimov’s wife, Tatyana Karimova, and with National Security Council chief Rustam Inoyatov, a likely kingmaker in any succession struggle. “They want to know what happens to Karimov next”, he said. Please see our terms of service for more information.

Uzbekistan is resource-rich and produces and exports oil, gas, gold and cotton, and Karimov has courted attention from both Russian Federation and the United States, who see his regional influence as important.

Karimov grew up in an orphanage in the ancient city of Samarkand and went on to study mechanical engineering and economics. Torture is endemic in the criminal justice system. Freedom House regularly ranks it among “the worst of the worst” in its “Freedom in the World” reports. “No fewer than nine journalists are rotting in prison in the most abominable conditions”.

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Karimov, 78, has ruled the former Soviet republic in Central Asia since 1989.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov reportedly dies