Tashkent, Uzbekistan - An Uzbek imam convicted of alleged Islamic extremism has died in prison from torture, his relatives and a rights activist claimed Thursday.
Shavkat Madumarov, 28, was arrested in February and sentenced to seven years in prison for alleged ties with Wahhabis, followers of an austere Islamic sect. Authorities said Madumarov died Sept. 14 from an HIV infection and anemia.
Madumarov's father Komiljon Madumarov accused authorities of torturing his son and intentionally infecting him with a lethal disease. The family wasn't allowed to open the coffin in which his body was released.
A U.N. envoy who visited the former Soviet republic including Uzbekistan in 2002 found that torture was "systematic" in its jails, reports the AP.