Usbeks clamp down on journalists continues

Breaking News. Igor Rotor expelled read his story about it on Forum 18. Aug 17th 205
Holly Carter of Human Rights Watch reacted today to the detention of Russian journalist Igor Rotar (see pic), the Central Asia correspondent for Forum 18 News Service, at passport control at the Tashkent airport on Thursday (11/12/05) morning. Rotar, a Russian citizen, was being held at the airport and was barred from contact with the outside world. No charges have been filed against him. "We are deeply concerned for Rotar's safety," she said "He should be allowed to contact his organization and a lawyer, and should be released immediately."

The journalist was detained by the Immigration Service and Border Guards when he arrived at Tashkent Airport on a flight from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 11 August at 10.25am local time. Igor Rotar continues to be held at the airport by the Uzbekistani authorities.

“Igor Rotar’s detention is part of a wave of intimidation and harassment of journalists and human rights defenders by the Uzbekistani authorities that escalated following the events in Andizhan in May this year,”said Amnesty International today.

Rotar, 40, has reported on religious freedom in Central Asia for many years, including for Forum 18, an online newsletter on religious freedom, since 2003.

He is widely considered an expert on Uzbekistan's Christian and Muslim religious communities. As a Russian citizen, Rotar does not require a visa to enter Uzbeksitan. Uzbek authorities, claim Rotar was stopped because " he was not accredited as a journalist". Human Rights Watch say dozens of Uzbek and foreign journalists and local human rights and political activists have been arrested detained, beaten, threatened and harassed. His last article on August 9th for Eurasia Monitor ANDIJAN LEADER THREATENS "CAMPAIGN OF TERROR" AGAINST KARIMOV REGIME detailed how Kabul Parpiyev, a leader of the May uprising in Andijan, Uzbekistan, is threatening to unleash a campaign of terror against the regime of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Parpiyev is he claimed, was currently in hiding in hiding.


Lutfullo Shamsudinov who was the Andijan representative for the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan and a witness to the massacre in Andijan, May 13, who co-authored a letter to the Uzbek government with other activists demanding accountability for the killings has fled Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan, fearing persecution. The Kazakh authorities have been asked to hand himover.

Uzbek National Security Services (SNB) searched Shamsudinov’s office and home in May and told relatives that he was under investigation in conjunction with his cooperation with Saidjahon Zainabitdinov, another human rights defender who had been a key source of information about Andijan. Zainabitdinov (see pic) remains in custody in Uzbekistan and there are serious concerns about his well-being.

In December, Zainabitdinov, together with Uzbek law enforcement officials, participated in a study tour to the United States funded by the U.S. embassy in Tashkent. A focus of the trip was cooperation between law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations.

Zainabitdinov went missing on May 21 after a brief trip to Osh, in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. A few days later a relative had received a call from Zainabitdinov telling his family not to worry because he was “still in Osh.” However, the lawyer who visited the family on Monday after this call confirmed that Zainabitdinov had been arrested and was being held in the provincial branch of the Uzbek Ministry of Internal Affairs.

There is no information about him from the US Embassy in Tashkent.