The Voice of Mirza Xazar

PRESS RELEASE 14 June 2008 Baku, Azerbaijan IRFS CHAIRMAN HOSPITALIZED AFTER BEING STRUCK OVER HEAD WITH GUN BY POLICE Today (June 14), in the "Alaturka" Cafe, an event organized by the "Che Guvera Fan Club" to mark the 80 birthday of Che Guvera and attended by a representative of the Cuban embassy was raided by police. Out of the approximately 25 people present, 20 were detained by police and taken to Nasimi District Police Department #22. Among those detained were IRFS Chairman Emin Huseynov and IRFS researchers Rasim Aliyev and Mirrehim Hasanov. The three had gone to conduct monitoring of the event. At the police department, Huseynov expressed protest against the photographing and fingerprinting of all people detained, and he was then separated from all of the detainees. According to R. Aliyev, Huseynov was taken into a separate room with four unformed and civilian-clothed police officers. Aliyev could hear shouting, cursing and a commotion from outside the door. A civilian-clothed man with glasses threatened Huseynov, saying, "I'll arrest you, I'll kill, I'll bury you," and shouted profanity. After several minutes, E. Huseynov exited the room and the police department. At the entrance to the police department Huseynov was met by IRFS co-founder, "Ayna" and "Zerkalo" Newspaper correspondent Iddrak Abbasov. Huseynov told him that he had been subjected to physical and psychological pressure. In particular he noted being struck on the back of the neck several times with the handle of a gun, and asked Abbasov to call an ambulance. Abbasov observed Huseynov was having difficulty walking. He and human rights activist Arzu Abdullayev, who was also present, approached the police department and asked them to summon an ambulance, however they rufused. According to Abbasov, Huseynov then lost consciousness. An ambulance eventually did arrive at the scene, and Huseynov was to the Centralized Emergency Medical Assistance Hospital. Doctor Galib Ibrahimov told IRFS, that Huseynov sustained head and brain trauma, but his condition is stable. According to Ibrahimov, Huseynov is in neurological shock, but his life is not in danger. U.S. Embassy Public Affair officer Jonathan Henick and other U.S. Embassy employees visited Huseynov in the evening. In addition, Rashid Hajili of the Media Rights Institute visited Huseynov in the late afternoon. At present, Huseynov is being kept in the critical care department and has regained consciousness. IRFS' two other employees, as well as the other people who were detained, were released approximately seven hours, after being photographed and fingerprinted. According to Abdullayev, the detainees also included "Yeni Musavat" Newspaper correspondent Elshan Balakhanli, who was only released after parliamentarian Igbal Agazadeh and Penah Huseyn, as well as others, interceded on the journalist's behalf. SOURCE: IRFS *When using this material please attribute it to the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety.

Human rights groups established a new committee:
Committee Against Torture of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran (referred to here on as the Committee)

August 27, 2007

The advocates for human rights of Azerbaijani population in Iran are under growing pressure as the Iranian regime has initiated a new wave of arrests against the Azerbaijani activists. Such activists who are engaged in a peaceful struggle for their cultural and national rights are brutally persecuted while a number of activists arrested during and soon after the popular uprisings of May 2006 remain in prisons.

Dozens of activists, recognized as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, are under physical and psychological torture in Iranian prisons. Following the clandestine and preemptive arrests, their right to legal representation is denied, their prisoners’ rights are violated, and their families are threatened and harassed.

The groups involved in defending human rights of the Azerbaijani prisoners in Iran, journalists and scholars have decided to join efforts to organize an international protest against torture of Azerbaijani activists by creating the Committee.

The increasing evidence of torture against dozens of Azerbaijani prisoners has concerned and alarmed the founders of this Committee. There are factual evidence on the torture of Azerbaijani activists such as Saeed Matinpour, Saleh Kamrani, Abdullah Abbas Javan, Jalil Qanilu and Behrouz Seferi who are kept incommunicado in Evin prison of Tehran. Many others are believed to suffer from torture and cruelty in various Iranian jails and prisons. These include women rights activist, Shahnaz Qolami, who is vanished since his arrest on 20 August in Tabriz.
The Committee urges media, human rights groups and anti-torture centers to protest against illegal arrests and tortures in Iran.

The Committee calls on Iranian government to stop illegal detention of prisoners, who are kept in prison without being charged in accordance with Iranian legislation.

The Committee will continue its activity until all Azerbaijani activists are released from prison.

The group initiating the Committee welcomes any support from other groups and individuals who condemn torture political prisoners in Iran.

For information about the Committee’s activity and last developments on situation of Azerbaijani political prisoners in Iran or to offer support please contact spokespersons:

Fakhteh Zamani +1 604 677 2524
fakhteh.zamani@gmail.com
Alirza Javanbakht + 90 538 442 6523
quluncu@gmail.com
e-mail: committee.stoptorture@yahoo.com

YEREVAN, Armenia, June 20--Armenia voiced concern Wednesday that a Russian proposal to host part of a US missile defense system in neighboring Azerbaijan could destabilize the volatile Caucasus region. "The hosting of anti-missile stations in Europe is the business of Russia, Europe and the US, but when it is a question of Azerbaijan, this interests and worries us, as it concerns our region," Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said. "We are concerned with the consequences of this on the balance in the region and on regional political and security matters," Oskanian said following a meeting with NATO's special representative to the Caucasus region, Robert Simmons. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a territorial dispute over the Nagorny Karabakh enclave since before the break-up of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan lost control of the territory and seven surrounding regions during a war in the early 1990s, but Karabakh's status has yet to be settled. Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed using the Russian-leased Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan as an alternative host for elements of a US missile defense system planned for the Czech Republic and Poland. The defense chiefs of Russia and Azerbaijan confirmed Wednesday their support for the proposal, which Washington has said it is examining. US plans to locate powerful missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic as well interceptor missiles in Poland to combat what it alleges are threats to global security. Russia vehemently opposes either location for the planned US system. (Alalam News - www.alalam.ir)