Sapardurdy Khadzhiev is a Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

i human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 activist currently serving a prison sentence in Turkmenbashi

Türkmenbasy, Turkmenistan

Türkmenbaşy , formerly known as Krasnovodsk and, more properly, Kyzyl-Su, is a city in Balkan Province in Turkmenistan, on the Krasnovodsk Gulf of the Caspian Sea. It is located at latitude 40.0231 North; longitude 52.9697 East, at an altitude of 27 meters. The population was 86,800, mostly...

. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 considers him a prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience

Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...

 and named him a 2011 "priority case".

Arrest and trial

Sapardurdy Khadzhiev is associated with Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation

Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

The Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is a non-governmental organization, based in Bulgaria, for the promotion of human rights in Turkmenistan...

 (THF), an organization that publicized human rights violations in Turkmenistan. In June 2006, he was arrested along with Annakurban Amanklychev

Annakurban Amanklychev

Annakurban Amanklychev is a Turkmenistani human rights activist currently serving a prison sentence in Turkmenbashi. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and named him a 2011 "priority case".-Arrest and trial:...

, another THF worker, and Khadzhiev's sister Ogulsapar Myradowa, a correspondent for Radio Liberty. The three were initially charged with spying for foreign intelligence services; these charges were later changed to "the illegal acquisition, possession or sale of ammunition or firearms". Amanklychev's family allege that law enforcement planted cartridges in his car to manufacture evidence. Amnesty International, Front Line

Front Line (NGO)

Front Line or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is an Irish-based human rights organisation founded in Dublin, Ireland in 2001 to protect human rights defenders at risk, i.e...

, Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...

, and Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

 have all described the charges as fabricated.

Imprisonment

Sapardurdy Khadzhiev and Annakurban Amanklychev were sentenced to seven-year prison terms. Ogulsapar Muradova was sentenced to six years but died two weeks into her sentence; her children reported that one of her legs was broken, her arms bore evidence of injections, and marks on her body indicated she had been strangled. Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...

 believes Amanklychev and Khadziev to currently be located in a high-security prison in Turkmenbashi

Türkmenbasy, Turkmenistan

Türkmenbaşy , formerly known as Krasnovodsk and, more properly, Kyzyl-Su, is a city in Balkan Province in Turkmenistan, on the Krasnovodsk Gulf of the Caspian Sea. It is located at latitude 40.0231 North; longitude 52.9697 East, at an altitude of 27 meters. The population was 86,800, mostly...

 known for poor conditions: "the region is extremely hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter, and inmates are forced to do agricultural work in such conditions... the inmates spend their time in filthy, overcrowded cells with no access to drinking water. The quality of what little food they receive is poor."

On 11 December 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is a UN-mandated body of independent human rights experts that investigates cases of arbitrary arrest and detention that may be in violation of international human rights law....

called for the immediate release of Khadziev and Amanklychev, stating that their detention was a violation of international law.