Uzbekistan amnesties prominent religious figure, , Human Rights Watch says

Uzbek President Islam Karimov leaves after a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near Moscow's Kremlin walls, April 15, 2013. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

ALMATY (Reuters) - Uzbekistan, ruled by authoritarian president Islam Karimov, has released a prominent journalist and preacher from prison a year early, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.

The U.S.-based monitoring group says thousands of people including human rights and opposition activists, journalists, religious believers and even artists have been imprisoned under Karimov on politically motivated charges.