An Uzbek imam has been sacked after urging President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to lift a ban on personal religious symbols such as hijabs and beards, in a case showing the limits of newly-proclaimed tolerance in the majority-Muslim country. Mirziyoyev, who came to power in 2016, has relaxed restrictions on religious freedoms as part of his campaign of liberal economic and political reforms in the former Soviet republic of 32 million. But his government stopped short of lifting a decades-long ban on religious clothes and attributes, and specifically barred female students from wearing hijabs in schools by a decree issued last month. The move prompted criticism on social networks led by Fazliddin Parpiyev, then imam of the Omina mosque in Tashkent. He published a video address to Mirziyoyev on Facebook last week, an unusual move for an Uzbek cleric. Parpiyev, 32, said in the video that despite the recent reforms Muslims were still being oppressed over the hijab and beard issue and asked Mirziyoyev for help “in maintaining freedom of conscience”. Published in Daily Times, September 11th 2018.