Sevara Shaydullaeva
Civilian social-media user; not a public official or professional activist. She became subject to criminal prosecution due to private digital content found on her phone.
She is not imprisoned, but remains under criminal sentence and state supervision. She was convicted on 30 April 2024, and her conviction was upheld on appeal on 21 August 2024. On 12 March 2025, a regional court review panel modified her sentence
Article 159-1 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan — attempts to overthrow the constitutional order.
Authorities claimed digital materials found on her phone constituted extremist propaganda.
On 30 April 2024, the Chirchik City Criminal Court found Shaydullaeva guilty and sentenced her to 2 years 6 months of restricted freedom. Evidence cited by prosecutors came from a forensic examination of her confiscated phone, which reportedly contained “religious content” and a 1991 video titled “Legendary Footage: Tahir Yuldash and Islam Karimov in Namangan.”
Religious forensic experts classified the video as extremist propaganda. The footage shows Uzbekistan’s first president Islam Karimov speaking to Islamists and promising a parliamentary vote on Sharia law. The same video is publicly available online through non-banned sources and has millions of views.
During appeal proceedings, Shaydullaeva and her mother testified that she had only sent the video privately to her mother and had not distributed it publicly. Despite this, on 21 August 2024, the Tashkent Regional Criminal Court upheld the conviction.
Instead of imprisonment, the court imposed a restricted-freedom sentence, which included:
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a curfew prohibiting her from leaving home 10:00 pm–6:00 am
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a ban on using the Internet
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supervision restrictions typical of controlled-movement sentences under Uzbek law.
There are no publicly documented medical conditions or health concerns reported in connection with her case.
