A man believed to be Uzbek opposition leader Mukhammad Salikh has been detained by Interpol at an airport in Prague, an Uzbek Interpol representative said Thursday.
"We were informed that Interpol had detained a person resembling Mukhammad Salikh and we are preparing documents to determine the identity of the arrested person," said Navfar Kholmatov, of Uzbekistan's Interpol bureau.
If the identity of the arrested man was confirmed to be that of Salikh, the Uzbek authorities would ask for his extradition to this former Soviet republic, Kholmatov added.
Uzbekistan blames the opposition figure for being behind a series of explosions that killed 16 and injured more than 100 in Tashkent in 1999 as well as being connected to incursions last year by Islamic rebels.
Salikh was sentenced in absentia to 15 years and six month in prison by Uzbekistan's Supreme Court in November 2000 on charges of organising criminal acts.
A US State Department report, however, dubbed the proceedings a show trial.
Leader of the unregistered Erk opposition party, Salikh was the only opponent to stand against autocratic Uzbek President Islam Karimov in 1991 presidential elections.
He fled the country in 1993 and has received political asylum in Norway – Tashkent (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
