Student who tried to set fire to the Israeli embassy in Tashkent was arrested

In Tashkent, a youthful student attempted to ignite the Israeli embassy in Uzbekistan. This incident underwent judicial review on April 19 in the Yakkasaroy district court of Tashkent city, as reported by QALAMPIR.UZ.

According to court records, A.A., hailing from the Fergana region and born in 2004, is a sophomore at the Uzbekistan State University of World Languages. On the early morning of October 19, 2023, he made an attempt to set ablaze the Israeli embassy.

Around 4:30 a.m. that day, the individual placed a glass container with 0.45 grams of flammable kerosene liquid, dumbbells, two boxes of matches, and pieces of cloth in his sports bag, then approached the embassy on a bicycle. His actions drew the attention of nearby DIA No. 4 officers from the Yakkasaray district. Upon being approached by the officers, he attempted to flee on his bike. Pursuing in an official vehicle, the officers intercepted and escorted him to the IIB building, where they requested him to reveal the contents of his bag. In an effort to proceed with his plan, the student engaged in a diversionary tactic, grabbing a bottle of kerosene and a dumbbell before making a dash towards the embassy. The MIA and National Guard personnel, responsible for embassy security, apprehended him near the embassy entrance as he discarded the bottle and dumbbell over the wall into the embassy yard.

In his court testimony, A.A. revealed that around mid-October 2023, he began watching videos depicting armed conflicts between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip. Consequently, he developed a deep animosity towards Israel, expressing his intention to seek revenge by burning down the Israeli embassy in Tashkent.

"Before, I wanted to throw kerosene bottles over the wall into the embassy courtyard. After that, I planned to set fire to the embassy by saturating pieces of cloth wrapped around dumbbell stones, saturating them with kerosene, and throwing them on fire at the area where the kerosene glass was broken.

I had no intention of harming people or the embassy, I just wanted to protest because the state of Israel bombed a hospital in Palestine. "I realized that my actions were wrong," said the student.

The Yakkasaray district court found A.A. guilty of committing terrorism under Article 155, part 1 of the Criminal Code. Consequently, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment.