A Twitter account used frequently by Uzbek presidential daughter Gulnara Karimova has been disabled after a flurry of critical tweets about her family.
Karimova used her final tweet on November 21 to say she was shutting the account down and to thank all of those who had been following her in recent weeks. She gave no explanation.
Karimova, 41, a one-time diplomat and aspiring pop star and fashion designer, had been tapped as a possible successor to her 75-year-old father, authoritarian President Islam Karimov, who has been ruling Uzbekistan since 1989.
But recent weeks have witnessed an abrupt change of fortune, as Karimova has lost her bodyguards, authorities have arrested her circle of allies, and her TV and radio channels have gone black. Reports say several of her organizations, including the powerful Fund Forum, have been put under investigation, and at least one -- the TerraGroup media holding company -- has had its bank accounts frozen.
Hours before disabling her account, Karimova cited her several media, musical, and social projects, describing them as "good deeds."
In other tweets, she blamed her mother, Tatyana Karimova, and Timur Tillyaev, the husband of her younger sister, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, for many of the internal problems that she says have beset the family.
In September, Karimova's sister told the BBC's Uzbek Service that she and Gulnara had not spoken in 12 years and that there were "no family or friendly relations" between them.
In one of her last tweets, Karimova said that her activities have never made "the female side of our family" happy and that "the last two years of my mother's activities were cause for everyone to worry."
Karimova wrote that her mother's "dubious" activities connected to the import of goods from China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates had ended with her cousin Akbarali Abdullaev being "put behind bars" earlier this year.
Karimova also wrote that she became "inconvenient for many" due to her free nature and ability to love life.
On Wednesday, Karimova wrote on Twitter that several members of her Kelajak Ovozi (Voices of the Future) youth project had been arrested for "alleged extremism."
Karimova also tweeted that she had been at a police station in Tashkent this week in an effort to free her colleagues.
Some media outlets in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia reported this week that Karimova had been seen at a Tashkent police station because she had been arrested.
Karimova had used her colorful Twitter account in recent weeks to announce that a number of her organizations and media outlets were pressured or being put under investigation.
Several radio and television stations controlled by Karimova and used to promote her various business ventures were taken off the air last month for what officials claimed was basic maintenance.
Also last month, at least two organizations with ties to Karimova, including her Fund Forum charity and the Center for Political Studies think tank, have reportedly come under investigation for alleged tax fraud.
Karimova used her final tweet on November 21 to say she was shutting the account down and to thank all of those who had been following her in recent weeks. She gave no explanation.
Karimova, 41, a one-time diplomat and aspiring pop star and fashion designer, had been tapped as a possible successor to her 75-year-old father, authoritarian President Islam Karimov, who has been ruling Uzbekistan since 1989.
But recent weeks have witnessed an abrupt change of fortune, as Karimova has lost her bodyguards, authorities have arrested her circle of allies, and her TV and radio channels have gone black. Reports say several of her organizations, including the powerful Fund Forum, have been put under investigation, and at least one -- the TerraGroup media holding company -- has had its bank accounts frozen.
ALSO READ: Amid Rumors Of Her Demise, Does Gulnara Really Even Matter?
Hours before disabling her account, Karimova cited her several media, musical, and social projects, describing them as "good deeds."
In other tweets, she blamed her mother, Tatyana Karimova, and Timur Tillyaev, the husband of her younger sister, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, for many of the internal problems that she says have beset the family.
In September, Karimova's sister told the BBC's Uzbek Service that she and Gulnara had not spoken in 12 years and that there were "no family or friendly relations" between them.
In one of her last tweets, Karimova said that her activities have never made "the female side of our family" happy and that "the last two years of my mother's activities were cause for everyone to worry."
Karimova wrote that her mother's "dubious" activities connected to the import of goods from China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates had ended with her cousin Akbarali Abdullaev being "put behind bars" earlier this year.
Karimova also wrote that she became "inconvenient for many" due to her free nature and ability to love life.
On Wednesday, Karimova wrote on Twitter that several members of her Kelajak Ovozi (Voices of the Future) youth project had been arrested for "alleged extremism."
Karimova also tweeted that she had been at a police station in Tashkent this week in an effort to free her colleagues.
Some media outlets in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia reported this week that Karimova had been seen at a Tashkent police station because she had been arrested.
Karimova had used her colorful Twitter account in recent weeks to announce that a number of her organizations and media outlets were pressured or being put under investigation.
Several radio and television stations controlled by Karimova and used to promote her various business ventures were taken off the air last month for what officials claimed was basic maintenance.
Also last month, at least two organizations with ties to Karimova, including her Fund Forum charity and the Center for Political Studies think tank, have reportedly come under investigation for alleged tax fraud.
