FORUM 18 REPORTER DETAINED AT TASHKENT AIRPORT IN UZBEKISTAN
By Jeremy Reynalds (08/11/05)
A reporter for an international news service was detained by Uzbek authorities upon his arrival at Tashkent Airport.
Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan (www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html).
Igor Rotar, Forum 18's Central Asia Correspondent, has been held by Uzbek authorities, who, Forum 18 reported, are not allowing him to contact anyone. Rotar was also initially asked, the news service reported, to buy his own deportation ticket.
An observer who Forum 18 said saw Rotar from a distance about two hours after he was initially detained, described him as being at that time, physically unhurt but nonetheless shaken and disturbed.
The Uzbek authorities are refusing to make any comment on the detention, but Forum 18reported that reliable sources have indicated detention was ordered "for political reasons at the highest levels." It was reportedly carried out by the country's Immigration Service and Border Guards, on the instructions of the National Security Service secret police.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other international diplomats are following Rotar's detention closely, Forum 18 reported. He is a Russian citizen and the Russian Embassy in Tashkent is aware of the case.
Forum 18 reported that the Uzbek authorities have been attempting to stifle independent media outlets, demonstrated by their "harassment" of the Western non-governmental organization "Internews" (www.internews.org/articles/2005/20050809_eurasianet_uzbek.htm).
According to Forum 18, "Igor Rotar has earned widespread praise for his consistently informed reporting of the religious freedom situation in Uzbekistan."
His most recent article is available at www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=626
For a personal commentary by a Muslim scholar, advocating religious freedom for all faiths as the best antidote to Islamic religious extremism in Uzbekistan, see www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=338
For more background, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=546
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