Activist 'beaten' after BBC story

[ccharles000]

An Uzbek rights activist has said he was beaten up after helping the BBC investigate the use of child labour in Uzbekistan's cotton industry.

Bakhtiyar Hamrayev said he was attacked within hours of the story appearing on the BBC News website and radio.

The report found that children as young as 11 were being taken out of school to help pick the cotton harvest.

The government pledged to stop using child labour last year after some Western firms boycotted Uzbek cotton.

Bakhtiyar Hamrayev told the BBC that the attack took place in the town of Jizzakh, which lies in a cotton growing area.

For the BBC's investigation, he said that 14- and 15-year old schoolchildren were taken to work in the cotton fields.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8355585.stm