[baybal2]

Do not go there, lest you want to add to ranks of Otto Warmbiers.

Turkmenistan, up until recently, was a close contender for the title of Central Asian version of North Korea with Uzbekistan.

With Karimov now dead, his gang purged, and Uzbekistan coming to a minimal semblance of normality, Turkmenistan takes the title.

[BeetleB]

Not sure why you were downvoted. These two countries have incredibly brutal dictatorships - far worse than countries we usually criticize (Iran, etc). I'm more familiar with Uzbekistan, where a decade ago there were a number of cases of people dying in prison because of burns from boiling water being thrown on them. Islam is practically outlawed - people have been put in prison for sporting a religious beard. When I was in grad school, there was an Uzbek student who was friends with a local Muslim student. When he was returning to Uzbekistan, he told his friend never to use Islamic phrases (greetings, etc) in emails to him as those could land him in prison.

Very controlling of outside journalists. Almost no outside journalist was allowed on site to report on the Andijan massacre, for example.[1]

I recall when Ahmadinejad came to Columbia to speak, the university president (Bollinger) went out of his way to blast him for his policies. Yet just the day before the Turkmenistan president spoke, and Bollinger also opened for his speech, and praised him. I was aghast.

Wiki page on human rights in these countries: [2] [3]. Turkmenistan even banned libraries outside of the capital. And video games!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Andijan_unrest

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Uzbekistan

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Turkmenistan