Jamshid Karimov, a former political prisoner and President Islam Karimov's nephew, is missing, his friends and colleagues fear.

While he may just be in hiding or avoiding contact, we don't know. He has seemed rather reluctant to talk to media after being released from forced psychiatric confinement for some years late last year (seemingly, as a gift to Hillary Clinton when she traveled to Uzbekistan).

He may be on a gag order or threatened with further harassment — again, we don't know. There were some reports that he was suffering from depression after his release; but when journalists from Fergananews.com interviewed him, he seemed fine. Understandably, this man may wish to retreat into private life, like so many others have had to do in this oppressive country.

Even so, it's very worrisome and his friends and colleagues have published an appeal:

For several days, the whereabouts of Jamshid Karimov, an independent journalist from Dzhizak region in Uzbekistan remains unknown. He is also a nephew of President of Uzbekistan.  Last November, Jamshid was released from a psychiatric hospital in Samarkand, where he was kept against his will for several years. We are very concerned that our friend and colleague has suddenly disappeared; he lived for meetings and conversations with his friends and colleagues and after years of seclusion he was planning to return to his favorite occupation, which is a journalism. Unfortunately, Uzbekistan is a country where the sudden silence of anyone, a follower of any beliefs should cause concern.

While the reason for their appeal is alarming, what's heartening to me is that some 40 Uzbeks and friends could come together to express their concern — human rights activists inside of Uzbekistan and Uzbeks in the diaspora abroad in Sweden and other countries, as well as some other journalists and activists in Canada and elsewhere.

We so constantly hear that there are only a handful of human rights activists remaining in Uzbekistan, and that the exile community has no resonance, and that repression sparks more silence. But this sort of show of solidarity, much like the solidarity that people mustered even in the worst days of the Soviet era, is encouraging. It shows that people can and do coordinate actions of solidarity and expression of good will on obvious topics of principle — like when a former journalist, persecuted by the regime, goes missing.