Whether or not Jamshid Muhtorov turns out to be guilty of the charges the US has levelled against him of supporting the Islamic Jihad Union, the Uzbek authorities have already made up their mind to harass his mother.

Uznews.net reports that Uzbek authorities are preventing Muhtorov's mother from reaching the US Embassy or local human rights groups.

On February 9, the Tashkent city prosecutor's office interrogated — and threatened — Robiya Muhtorova, Muhtorov's mother,  for six hours, says uznews.net

The reason Robiya was detained was that she tried to appeal for help to Elena Urlaeva, leader of the Human Rights Alliance in Tashkent.

Muhtorova also tried to travel from Jizzakh to the US consulate in Tashkent to get a visa to go and support her son. She turned to Urlaeva for advice in how to do this and how to help her son's case. As the two women left Urlaeva's home, Robiya was detained and taken for "interrogation with prejudice," as uznews.net put it.

"They yelled at me for the fact that I went to Urlaeva. And they behaved very crudely, indulging in insults including obscenities," Muhtorova told uznews.net.

That evening Robiya was let go about 7 pm, but then sent back to Jizzakh, where she was summoned for more interrogation at the police department, until after midnight.  She insited that her son was innocent.

Muhtorov's mother believes she is being prevented from visiting human rights activists in Uzbekistan or applying for the US visa. Urlaeva believes that Muhtorova may be shadowed now by security agents.