By Monica Whitlock BBC, Tashkent

The woman, Fatima Mukhadirova, is the mother of a man who, human rights groups say, was tortured to death in prison, allegedly by immersion in boiling water.

The case became famous, in part because there are graphic photographs of the body and an unusually high level of international attention.

Mrs Mukhadirova's son died in prison

The Uzbek Government says that the prisoner died after a fight with cell mates.

Mrs Mukhadirova, in a warm scarf and cardigan, sat in a cage, leaning on the bars to hear the evidence against her.

She is accused of attempting to undermine the constitution of Uzbekistan and distributing extremist literature, that is, pamphlets propagating an Islamic state.

Police arrested her at her vegetable stall in the market last year.

Human rights groups point out that this happened shortly after Mrs Mukhadirova sent a written appeal to various government and foreign agencies drawing attention to the death of her son, Muzafar, in 2002.

Muzafar, accused of belonging to a radical Islamic group, had died in jail.

The corpse was returned to the family with sixty to 70% burns, his lower body scarlet to the chest, judging by the photographs.

According to Human Rights Watch he also had no fingernails.

Unusually, the European Union and other groups took up the case. In reply the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said that Muzafar had heart disease and had died after a fight with cell mates in which they threw scalding tea at him.