Public Relations Special: Bell Pottinger's "Reform" Image for Uzbekistan

See also Bahrain Opinion: "Loonies" and The Sins of Bell Pottinger
Bahrain Special: 4 More Revelations about Qorvis, the Regime's PR Firm

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We have been reporting on the work of public relations firm Bell Pottinger for regimes in Yemen and Bahrain, as well as carrying investigative journalism uncovering the company's claims of access to the highest figures in the British Government and its service for clients by planting and changing Wikipedia entries.

The Bureau for Investigative Journalism, which set up the fictional "Azimov Group" approached by the PR firm, has released Bell Pottinger's pitch for business, "Changing Perceptions of the Republic of Uzbekistan". Uzbekistan is the Central Asian country led by Islam Karimov, whose regime has been accused of widespread torture --- including the boiling alive of two detainees --- kidnapping, murder, rape by security forces, financial corruption, religious persecution, and censorship.

Or, as Bell Pottinger presents the challenge in the Introduction to the report, "Uzbekistan has serious reputational problems. On democracy, human rights, and child labour in the cotton fields, perceptions are strongly negative. Overcoming deep-rooted attitudes will not be easy."

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The Latest from Iran (11 January): Remembering Hundreds of Political Prisoners

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The son-in-law of detained journalist Emaduddin Baghi, Ali Maghami, has been released on bail.

Maghami was arrested last month. Baghi, detained in December 2009, was sentenced last autumn to seven years in prison.

Eight students of the Islamic Society of Arak University have reportedly been arrested.

2040 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. On Sunday we noted a speech by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, marking the anniversary of a January 1978 protest that helped spur the Islamic Republic. A correspondent commented Rafsanjani made his historical parallel to jab directly at Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and indirectly at the Supreme Leader: "those who build their power on cobwebs". He pointedly referred to the situation then of "fire under the ashes", a possible reference to the state of protest today, and blamed those who practiced "lies and hypocrisy".

Well, the newspaper Kayhan is not impressed.

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