Islam Karimov, 2005 News

president of Uzbekistan, faced international criticism in May, after hundreds of antigovernment demonstrators in Andijan were killed in a military crackdown. The demonstration began after protesters stormed a prison and released about 2,000 prisoners to challenge what they saw as the rigged trial of 23 businessmen. The government claimed the men were Islamic terrorists; the protesters insisted they were antigovernment civic leaders.