Uzbek rights campaigner dead

An independent Uzbek human rights group, The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, says it believes the death of one of its prominent members was due to injuries sustained while in detention.

It says the body of Shavruk Ruzimurodov was delivered to his family on Saturday.

Members of the human rights group tried to visit but were prevented by police - and so did not see the corpse.

Mr Ruzimurodov, an opposition politician in the early 1990s, was detained by police for the third time several weeks ago.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was devastated and disturbed by the news of his death. Relatives said they were told that a search by police of Mr Ruzimurodov's house had found bullets and literature from the banned Islamic movement, Hezb-e Tahrir.

Hundreds of people have been sent to prison over the past two years for being members of Hezb-e Tahrir.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service