Uzbek opposition politician arrested, says sister

Reuters December 19 Uzbek security agents arrested a senior opposition politician who had been speaking out against the central Asian country's president, her sister said on Monday. Nodira Khidayatova, a senior member of Uzbekistan's Sunshine Coalition, was arrested at Tashkent airport on her arrival from Russia, her sister Nigora said. While in Russia, she had campaigned against President Islam Karimov, who has been under fire in the West since the bloody suppression of an uprising in the Uzbek town of Andizhan in May by government forces. "She was arrested at passport control and taken away to the prosecutor general's office," said Nigora Khidayatova, also a coalition leader. "It is directly linked to my political activities. Nigora's husband Orifjan Oydin, also a prominent member of the Sunshine Coalition, died in hospital in neighbouring Kazakhstan this month after being shot by two men in November. Nigora has described her husband's death as a "political murder". The prosecutor's office was not immediately available for comment. The Sunshine Coalition's leader, Sanjar Umarov, was arrested in October on embezzlement charges. His supporters say Umarov's criticism of Karimov was the main reason behind his arrest. Since the bloodshed in Andizhan, rights groups, critical journalists and opposition politicians have faced a government clampdown. Witnesses say 500 people died when troops moved in to quell the uprising. A Reuters reporter saw soldiers shooting into a crowd including many women and children. Officials say 187 people -- mainly "foreign-paid terrorists" -- died.