Igor Rotar is a Russian journalist. From 2003 to early 2007 he was the Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

n news correspondent for Forum 18

Forum 18

Forum 18 is a Norwegian human rights organization that promotes religious freedom. The organization's name is based on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

, a human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 organization based in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 that promotes religious freedom. He is a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n citizen.

Background

Rotar is from Moscow, but as correspondent for "Nezavisimaya Gazeta@in the 1990s he covered events in the Civil War in Tajikistan.

2005 detainment

The Immigration Service and Border Guards of the Government of Uzbekistan detained Rotar on 11 August 2005. Rotar's plane took off from Bishkek

Bishkek

Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...

, Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

 and arrived at Tashkent Airport at 10:25 a.m. Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 condemned the incident, saying his "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 Andijan in May this year." Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said, "We are deeply concerned for Rotar's safety. He should be allowed to contact his organization and a lawyer, and should be released immediately."

Religious freedom conference

Rotar spoke at a conference on "Religious Freedom and State Policy in Central Asia" on 11 January 2007. The conference, hosted by the Russia and Eurasia Program of Center for Strategic and International Studies

Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...

 (CSIS) and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, also featured Eric McGlinchey, assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University

George Mason University

George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...

 and Catherine Cosman, senior policy analyst for the OSCE region at USCIRF. Cory Welt, a fellow at CSIS and deputy director of its Russia and Eurasia Program, served as the moderator.

Rotar criticized Akromiya and Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Islamist organizations, calling them "enemies of the United States and Western civilization

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

."

Works

• Kyrgyzstan: Officials call for police to close embattled Baptist church
• Kazakhstan: More Planned Restrictions on Religious Freedom
• Uzbekistan: How many forced closures of religious communities?
• The Islamist Underground in Southern Kyrgyzstan
• Resurgence of Islamic Radicalism in Tajikistan's Ferghana Valley
• Why Extremism is on the Rise In Uzbekistan
• Terrorism in Uzbekistan: A Self-Made Crisis
• What Lies Ahead For Tajikistan?
• Hizb ut-Tahrir Today
• Hizb ut-Tahrir in Central Asia
• The Islamic Movement Of Uzbekistan: A Resurgent IMU?