Umida Akhmedova

[2] As an Associated Press photographer,[5] her images have been published in the photography sections of the online editions of The New York Times,[6] the Wall Street Journal[7] and The Globe and Mail.

On November 17, 2009, she was summoned by Nodir Akhmadzhan,[10] investigator of the Tashkent city police department and accused of defamation and of "insult and slander of the Uzbek nation."

The criminal charges carry a possible sentence of prison for up to six months, or 2–3 years of forced labor[1][12] and she is currently banned from leaving the country.

Though the charges carried a prison sentence of up to three years imprisonment, the judge waived a penalty saying that the convict was granted an amnesty in honor of the 18th anniversary of Uzbek independence.

[15][16][17][18][19] "Portsmouth University Pugwash" columnist Mark Norman commented that, "Umida Akhmedova is an Uzbek photographer who, in 2007, produced an album of images of the everyday lives of the people of Uzbekistan.