In the email, Elena Steiger sends this story of an activist in Uzbekistan whose very basic human rights are being breached outright by the government.

Elena Urlaeva, well-known rights activist and member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was detained by security agents on August 27, 2005, while distributing flyers at a peaceful protest in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Authorities forcibly committed her to a psychiatric hospital – a Soviet-era technique meant to silence dissidents that is used in present day Uzbekistan, particularly against female activists.

Ms. Urlaeva has been detained in such facilities twice before. Each time, she was forced to endure a series of injections and psychotropic drugs. International pressure from governments and individuals like you eventually secured her release.

The flyer that provoked Ms. Urlaeva’s most recent arrest lampoons government corruption: several well-known officials are drawn suckling from a cow that represents Uzbekistan. Authorities charged her with “desecrating state symbols” because the cow in the cartoon resembles the map of Uzbekistan.

Here’s a link to the cartoon she drew that got her into so much trouble. Though it shouldn’t have.