The Voice of Mirza Xazar

Azerbaijan: Opposition Editor Sentenced to Prison

Government Intensifies Media Crackdown Through ‘Criminal Libel’ Charges

(New York, April 27, 2007) – The conviction of Eynulla Fatullayev, the editor of Azerbaijan's largest independent newspaper, for “criminal libel” and “insult,” underscores deteriorating press freedoms in that country, Human Rights Watch said today.

On April 20, Yasamal District Court in Baku convicted Fatullayev, the outspoken editor-in-chief of the independent Realni Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan newspapers, for having committed “criminal libel” and “insult.” The charges were based on an internet posting that the prosecution attributed to him, which blamed Azerbaijanis for a 1992 massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh. Fatullayev denied writing the posting, but was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

The same day, unknown assailants attacked one of Fatullayev’s colleagues at Realni Azerbaijan, Uzeyir Jafarov, who sustained serious injuries. Fatullayev is the fifth journalist to be imprisoned in Azerbaijan in the last 10 months.

“Fatullayev’s prosecution was politically motivated, and he should be immediately released from custody,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The steady rise of politically motivated defamation charges and violent attacks against critical journalists is clearly aimed at silencing critical voices in Azerbaijan.”

In its letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev on February 9, Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of violence and criminal defamation charges against journalists in Azerbaijan, including Fatullayev. Human Rights Watch urged the president to take steps to end impunity for such violence, and ensure that Azerbaijan complies with its international obligations on freedom of expression and the press.

Fatullayev’s conviction comes just two weeks after the same court fined him 10,000 Azeri manats (about US$12,000) for the same offense in a civil claim brought by Tatiana Chaladze, head of the Azeri Center for Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons. Chaladze also initiated the criminal libel and insult charges against Fatullayev.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has called for Azerbaijan to abolish the offense of criminal libel. Human Rights Watch echoed this call in February in its letter to President Aliev.

Fatullayev’s conviction was based on a statement attributed to him that was posted to the website Azeritricolor. The statement blamed Azerbaijanis for the 1992 massacre in the village of Khojali in Nagorno-Karabakh. Chaladze alleged that the statement defamed the village’s residents.

According to Azerbaijani official statistics, more than 600 people were killed on February 25, 1992, when ethnic Armenian forces stormed the predominantly Azeri town of Khojali. Fatullayev denies making the remark and maintains that it was a set-up intended to put him behind bars. The remark was apparently linked to an article Fatullayev had published in 2005, “Karabakh Diary,” in which he expressed the view that Armenian forces maintained a civilian corridor for Azeri villagers to flee Khojali.

Fatullayev wrote the 2005 article while working as an investigative journalist for the newspaper Monitor, where he worked until the murder of his close friend, Monitor editor Elmar Huseynov, in March 2005. Huseynov’s murder remains unsolved. Fatullayev’s Realni Azerbaijan newspaper is the successor to Monitor, which closed after Huseynov’s murder.

Fatullayev’s lawyer told Human Rights Watch that, although his client’s conviction was partially based on statements made in the 2005 article about the Khojali massacre, the article itself was not included in the evidence against him. Fatullayev plans to appeal his conviction.

“As a member of the UN’s Human Rights Council, Azerbaijan should be exemplary in its protection of fundamental human rights like freedom of expression,” said Cartner. “Instead, the authorities have launched a series of politically motivated flawed trials against critical journalists, fueling an atmosphere of fear and hostility for the independent and opposition media.”

Just hours after Fatullayev’s conviction on April 20, unknown assailants brutally beat Fatullayev’s colleague, Realni Azerbaijan journalist Uzeyir Jafarov. Jafarov told Human Rights Watch that as he left the Realni Azerbaijan office around 11:45 p.m., two people attacked him from behind and hit him several times on the head. The assailants fled only after Jafarov’s colleagues responded to his calls for help. Jafarov was hospitalized for head trauma and remains in the hospital. He claimed to have seen one of the assailants in the court room at Fatullayev’s hearing earlier in the day.

“Attacks on journalists and the lack of accountability for these crimes are crushing freedom of the press and expression in Azerbaijan,” said Cartner. “If this crackdown on the media continues, it will be nearly impossible for Azerbaijan to hold free and fair presidential elections next year.”

Background

Eynulla Fatullayev is known for his frequent criticism of Azeri officials and for exposing instances of government corruption. Pressure on Fatullayev to stop his journalism had been building for over a year. Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of his newspapers on October 1, after his father was kidnapped. The kidnappers threatened to kill both Fatullayev and his father if he continued publishing the newspapers. The editor had to stop publication of the paper in exchange for his father’s release. Fatullayev renewed publishing only two months later, but acknowledged that he did so at his own peril, since the kidnappers remained at large.

In March, after publishing an article accusing the Azeri authorities of obstructing the investigation into the murder of Monitor editor Elmar Huseinov, Fatullayev reported death threats against him and his family. The Azeri authorities refused to investigate these claims or offer to protect Fatullayev.

Soon after the statement attributed to Fatullayev about the Khojali massacre began to circulate on the internet in February, protestors organized several rallies in front of the Realni Azerbaijan office and threw eggs and stones at the office windows. Police did nothing to stop the protestors.

In recent months, high-ranking state officials have initiated criminal defamation charges against Fatullayev. In September, Fatullayev was handed a two-year suspended sentence and forced to pay damages in a criminal libel case brought by Interior Minister Ramil Usubov. Usubov has brought similar charges against numerous other independent journalists and newspapers.

The conviction of Fatullayev comes amid the Azerbaijani government’s growing hostility toward independent and opposition media, which raises serious concerns about the future of independent media and the security of journalists in the country. Violence and the threat of violence against journalists have become frequent in Azerbaijan, and often such crimes are committed with impunity. A dramatic increase in defamation charges brought against journalists by state officials has further contributed to the deteriorating environment for freedom of expression.

(Human Rights Watch - www.hrw.org)

AZERBAIJAN: Editor brutally beaten after colleague's trial

New York, April 24, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brutal attack on Uzeyir Jafarov, an editor and reporter for the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, in the capital, Baku. Two unidentified men beat Jafarov as he was leaving the newspaper's office Friday night, according to the journalist and international press reports. Earlier that day, Jafarov had testified in defense of his editor, Eynulla Fatullayev, who was convicted and imprisoned on criminal libel charges.

"We condemn this vicious assault on our colleague Uzeyir Jafarov, and call on Azerbaijani authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident and punish all responsible," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "This is one more attack on Azerbaijan's independent journalism, which has been subjected to one severe blow after another in recent months."

Jafarov had testified as to the professionalism of Fatullayev, founder and editor of Gündalik Azarbaycan and the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan. A Baku court sentenced Fatullayev to two and half years in prison after finding him guilty of criminal libel - a verdict widely seen as politically motivated. Jafarov protested the court's decision and was removed from the courtroom, according to local press reports.

The assailants attacked Jafarov as he was walking to his parked car near midnight on Friday, the journalist told CPJ. He said the assailants hit him repeatedly with a metal object, mainly on the head. The attackers fled when Jafarov's colleagues heard his screams and ran to help, he said. Jafarov told CPJ that he recognized one of his attackers as someone who had attended Fatullayev's trial.

Jafarov sustained head wounds in the attack, according to local press reports. He was being treated today at the Musa Nagiyev Hospital in Baku.

Jafarov had worked for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry until resigning in 2004 and later joined Gündalik Azarbaycan, where he covers military affairs. He said he does not believe the attack was related to specific articles but was motivated by the paper's overall critical coverage.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org

Member of the European Parliament calls practices of Iranian authorities during the International Mother Tongue Day "inhumane" and demands a stop of the extensive violence against Azerbaijanis in Iran

Ms. Inger Segelström, a Swedish member of the European Parliament and the spokesperson for the entire Swedish Social-Democratic delegation in the European Parliament, has written a letter to the supreme leader of Iran condemning the use of extensive violence against Azerbaijanis in Iran during peaceful demonstrations on the International Mother Tongue.

In her letter, the member of the committee on Foreign Affairs questions in the European Parliament, also acknowledges that the prominent and renowned Azerbaijani political activist Mr. Abbas Lisani is a prisoner of conscience solely detained for his peaceful activities for the cultural rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran, and demands his immediate release by the Iranian authorities.

(Nergiz Nedayi)

TEXT OF THE LETTER

Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran

Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Brussels, April 10, 2007

Your Excellency,

As a member of the European Parliament, I would like to express my concern that Human Rights Defender Abbas Lisani is serving an 18-month prison sentence for his peaceful involvement in a demonstration in Ardabil on 27 May 2006. Abbas Lisani is personally opposed to violence and in no way advocated the use of violence by anyone during the demonstration.

I therefore believe that Abbas Lisani is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the non-violent expression of his opinions, and should be released immediately and unconditionally and I am also asking the authorities to give details of the procedure before the Ardabil Appeal Court, particularly as the review of Lisani's case was conducted so quickly. Because of this I am concerned that the procedure followed may not have provided a genuine review of Abbas Lisani´s case. I would also like to express my concern that the authorities have reportedly been harassing and intimidating Abbas Lisani´s family, including threatening to arrest them.

I strongly urge the authorities to commute his sentence of flogging immediately, as it amounts to torture and call on the authorities to grant Abbas Lisani immediate and unconditional access to his lawyer, continued and regular access to his family, and access to any medical treatment that he requires.

I am also concerned with the reports of police violence during the demonstrations on 21 February on the International Mother Language Day. The use of excessive violence against peaceful and rightful demonstrations is not in accordance with a human rights principles. I strongly urge the authorities to stop this inhuman practice.

Yours sincerely,

Inger Segelström