The police repeatedly tortured prisoners, State Department officials wrote, noting that the most common techniques were "beating, often with blunt weapons, and asphyxiation with a gas mask." Separately, international human rights groups had reported that torture in Uzbek jails included boiling of body parts, using electroshock on genitals and plucking off fingernails and toenails with pliers. Two prisoners were boiled to death, the groups reported. The February 2001 State Department report stated bluntly: "Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights."

The decision to make Uzbekistan "a partner in the global fight against terrorism" reveals the administration's utter lack of concern for human rights.

Update (TL): Recent allegations have been made about wide scale forced sterilization in Uzbekistan, something rarely, if ever, reported in our national press.