Ikrom Yakubov

Ikrom Yakubov alleges that he is a former intelligence officer of Uzbekistan, in its National Security Service (SNB), who suggests that he defected to the United Kingdom in 2008.^[1][2] He is notable because, after his defection, he confirmed earlier reports that Uzbekistan routinely tortured captives.^[3][4] In 2008, he also alleged that the crash of Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154 had been engineered by the Uzbek leadership, killing UN Resident Representative Richard Conroy. ^[5]

Ikrom Yakubov
Born	Moscow, Russian SFRS, USSR (now Russia)
Nationality	Uzbek citizenship; Russian citizenship
Known for	claimed to have defected from Uzbekistan's security service, where he witnessed torture

Early life

Yakubov described wanting to become an intelligence officer when he was a child because he wanted to follow the example of his father and grandfather, who were senior KGB officers in the old Soviet Union.^[3]

Life in the United Kingdom

Radio Free Europe reported, in 2011, that Yakubov was convicted of illegally using a phony Portuguese passport.^[6]

Radio Free Europe reported that a leading Uzbek human rights worker, Surat Ikramov, challenged Yakubov's account of himself.^[6] They reported Ikramov claimed that while Yakubov had worked for the Uzbek government, it was a low-level job, and not as a security official, and he learned no secrets there. Ikramov claimed Yakubov had worked for him, as a translator. He claimed Yakubov had requested permission to extend a trip to the UK, only to then claim political asylum, and then cut his ties to Ikramov and his organization.

In 2017 Yakubov submitted a PhD thesis to the University of Dundee, entitled "The Role of Intelligence in Securitisation Processes: A Tool or An Agent."^[7]