Uzbek President Islam Karimov suffers a brain haemorrhage

Uzbek President Islam Karimov is in intensive care after suffering a brain haemorrhage, his daughter says.

“His condition is considered secure” and “it’s too early to make any predictions about his future health,” Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva wrote on her Instagram report.

Ms Karimova Tillyaeva pleaded for people to “refrain from speculations”.

Mr Karimov, 78, has been leader of the former Soviet republic since independence in 1991.

Within an uncommon move on Sunday, the Uzbek authorities confessed he was receiving treatment but did not give details.

The authorities has never previously issued a statement about his health, although President Karimov is understood to have health problems. He was last seen on 17 aug, meeting with the South Korean interior minister.

Independence Day parties – which the president would consistently attend – are to be held on 1 September.

In her message, Ms Karimova Tillyaeva, who serves as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Unesco in Paris, asked people “to show respect to our family’s right to privacy”.