Report: Uzbek court frees translator

NEW YORK, May 9 (UPI) -- An Uzbek court has released a translator for Human Rights Watch, the organization announced in New York.

Umida Niazova, who works in HRW's Tashkent office, was convicted last week on what the rights organization called politically motivated charges. She was sentenced to seven years in prison.

At an appeal hearing Tuesday, the sentence was commuted to a seven-year suspended sentence.

"We are enormously relieved and pleased that Umida is no longer behind bars, but she should never have been jailed in the first place," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

At least 14 others the organization described as human rights defenders are still held in Uzbekistan on charges ranging from "anti-state activities" and slander to extortion.

"We remain profoundly concerned about the fate of at least 14 other human rights defenders imprisoned in Uzbekistan, and urge the government to free them at once," said Cartner. "We call on Uzbekistan's international partners, especially the European Union, to demand their unconditional release."