Human Rights Watch is concerned for the safety of a four-person delegation from the International Helsinki Federation who were visiting Andijan and were last heard from at 2 a.m., Tashkent time, on June 16th.

“Taking an international delegation into custody is a clumsy attempt to intimidate all human rights defenders,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The four human rights defenders were in Andijan province to document the post May 13 crackdown, and had been visiting the home of a human rights defender currently detained on charges related to the Andijan events.

For more details on this disturbing situation visit the HRW site.

This development follows on the heels of a report yesterday that a team from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR)had found the security situation of over 400 refugees sheltered in a camp near the Kyrgyz city of Jalal Abad had greatly deteriorated following raids by a group of unidentified men.