The Voice of Mirza Xazar: Category Human rights

U.S. State Department: Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor

Mirza Khazar — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 03:30:00 -0400

U.S. State Department Report On Trafficking in Persons Report Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons June 5, 2006 AZERBAIJAN Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most Azerbaijani victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation to Turkey and the Persian Gulf. Other destinations include Russia, Germany, and Greece. Reports of internal trafficking also continued, as did reports of men trafficked to Turkey and Russia for forced labor. The Government of Azerbaijan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government undertook important steps to prevent and combat trafficking during the reporting period. In 2005, the government passed anti-trafficking legislation, appointed a new national anti-trafficking coordinator, fully vetted the staff of an anti-trafficking police unit, nearly completed renovations of a trafficking shelter, and created two new trafficking hotlines. The government should take immediate and tangible steps to improve victim rehabilitation by opening, adequately staffing, and fully funding its shelter for trafficking victims. It should also implement a nation-wide victim referral mechanism so that law enforcement personnel improve identification and protection of trafficking victims. Prosecution In 2005, the Government of Azerbaijan adopted its Law on the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons and adopted corresponding amendments to the criminal code. The law covers trafficking for both forced labor and sexual exploitation and carries a maximum penalty of 10 to 12 years. Due to the late passage of the criminal code amendments, however, the government continued to use older trafficking-related laws to prosecute traffickers in 2005. During the reporting period, the government opened 160 trafficking investigations and prosecuted 153 cases, resulting in 93 convictions. By the end of the reporting period, 37 traffickers were in prison. The government gave fines to 26 convicted traffickers and gave suspended sentences to 10 convicted traffickers in 2005. During the reporting period, the government completed a thorough vetting process, including conducting exams and background investigations, for its anti-trafficking police unit to ensure the unit meets international standards. The Ministry of Interior worked with customs and border officials to monitor and identify potential trafficking victims at airports, seaports, and land crossings and in January 2006 announced the disruption of a transnational trafficking ring. The Azerbaijani Government cooperated with U.S. counterparts to provide critical information for the prosecution of a U.S. trafficking case involving Azerbaijani victims in 2005. Reports of border guards and law enforcement officials receiving bribes to facilitate trafficking continued. The government established an anti-corruption commission last year to address pervasive corruption. Protection The Government of Azerbaijan continued to provide an inadequate level of assistance and support to victims in 2005. During the reporting period, the government failed to develop or implement a formal screening and referral mechanism to identify and assist victims. Although officials informally referred victims to state healthcare facilities, these facilities lack the capacity to provide the required specialized treatment or information for victims of trafficking. Some police referred victims to NGOs; however, a lack of adequate shelters in Azerbaijan forced NGO workers to use their own homes to shelter victims. The government made significant progress constructing and renovating a new trafficking shelter during the reporting period; the shelter is expected to open in spring 2006. Prevention The Government of Azerbaijan established two nation-wide trafficking hotlines in 2005. During the reporting period, the government conducted joint seminars with NGOs on trafficking throughout Azerbaijan, demonstrating increased interaction with civil society on trafficking. The State Committee on Women, Children and Families incorporated trafficking prevention into its education and trainings that targeted women from all sectors of society. The anti-trafficking coordinator led the government's inter-agency task force in coordinating communication among agencies. (source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2006/65988.htm)

Azerbaijan: Journalists, beware

Mirza Khazar — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:39:24 -0400

A series of arrests and prison sentences for charges that include terrorism have journalists in Azerbaijan wondering if there is any sort of future for a free press.

Commentary by Karl Rahder for ISN Security Watch (25/05/07)

Increasingly bad news for freedom of expression has recently come out of Azerbaijan, the US' oil-rich ally in the Caspian Sea region, where five journalists have been sentenced to harsh prison sentences in the last few weeks in what critics say is a government campaign to stifle free speech.

Rafiq Tagi, a journalist with the independent newspaper Senet was sentenced on 3 May in Baku, the capital, to a four-year term for “inciting religious hatred,” while his editor Samir Sadagatoglu received a three-year sentence.

The prison terms and prosecution came as a result of a commentary written last November by Tagi entitled “Europe and Us,” which according to press reports compared Muslim societies such as Azerbaijan with historically Christian Europe and concluded that Islam had, on the whole, hindered social and political development.

While this sort of reflective social commentary might be the norm in the West, the outcry from some quarters in secular, Shi’ite Azerbaijan was shrill, with ultra-conservative Muslims in the village of Nadaran calling for the two men’s deaths and the public prosecutor bringing criminal charges against them.

In neighboring Iran, Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani has issued a fatwa calling for the execution of Tagi and his editor, saying on his

website: http://www.lankarani.org/eng/mes/016.html

that “it is necessary for every individual who has an access to him to kill him. The person in charge of the […] newspaper, who published such thoughts and beliefs consciously and knowingly, should be dealt with in the same manner.” Another cleric who lives in the city of Tabriz has reportedly offered his house as a reward for anyone who kills the two men.
The sentence was handed down despite protests from Azerbaijan’s embattled journalistic community, a number of non-governmental organizations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

What emerges from the trials, convictions and physical attacks over the years is an apparent pattern of coordinated assaults against freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. On 27 April, independent journalist Eynulla Fatullayev was convicted of “criminal libel” and “insult” and sentenced to 30 months in prison for allegations he purportedly made having to do with events surrounding the massacre of civilians in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly during the 1992-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Fatullayev’s original article evidently attached some blame for the tragedy to the failure of Azerbaijani military forces to protect the town. But in the furor that followed the article, Fatullayev was charged with libeling the residents of Khojaly.

Fatullayev, perhaps Azerbaijan’s best-known opposition journalist, denies having made libelous comments, but his conviction - and the physical attack on the same day against his colleague Uzeir Jafarov - reminds critics of the government of the price they may be forced to pay when they stray too far from what is acceptable, to both the government and the conservative Shi’ite establishment.

Journalism in Azerbaijan was a high-risk endeavor even before the 2005 murder of Elmar Huseynov, editor of the independent Monitor newspaper, and a friend of Fatullayev’s. It clearly remains a high-risk endeavor.

In October last year, well-known poet and opposition journalist Sakit Zahidov was convicted on charges of illegal possession and use of drugs. The charges were widely believed to be politically oriented, with the arrest coming only three days after Ali Akhmedov, the executive secretary of Azerbaijan's ruling New Azerbaijan Party, called for Zahidov’s arrest for his alleged “slanders” against government officials.

Zahidov’s brother Ganimat happens to be the chief editor of the opposition newspaper Azadlig, which has been a thorn in the side of the government for years and was ejected from its office space in 2006 along with the Turan News Agency and the Popular Front Party.

Last week, Rovshan Karbili - the editor of opposition newspaper Mukhalifat - and reporter Yashar Agazade were sentenced to two and a half years in prison (identical to Fatulayev’s sentence) for libel in connection with an article that accused Jalal Aliyev, an uncle of President Ilham Aliyev, of corruption.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti expressed “shock” over the sentence in a statement to the press.

"Azerbaijan's relentless persecution of journalists annihilates the security of journalism, a major OSCE commitment," said Haraszti.

The conviction and sentence came less than three weeks after a meeting between Haraszti and President Aliyev, during which the OSCE representative asked the president to halt the persecution of journalists, reminding Aliyev that "Azerbaijan today is the country in the OSCE region with the highest number of journalists in prison […]"

The US embassy in Baku issued a statement after the most recent convictions, saying that the imprisonment of seven journalists in toto in Azerbaijan "is part of a trend of pressure - including violence, threats and libel cases - that runs counter to Azerbaijan's stated commitment to media freedom. Journalists in democratic countries are not imprisoned for exercising freedom of expression. We urge the Azerbaijani government to remove libel from the criminal code and to take steps to create the necessary conditions for media freedom."
In 2005, Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that monitors democratic development, downgraded Azerbaijan from "partly free" to "not free."

Finally, on 21 May, authorities closed down the offices of Fatullayev’s newspaper Real Azerbaijan as well as another opposition paper, the Azerbaijan Daily, two of the most popular newspapers in the country. While the government says the closure was due to maintenance and fire safety issues, no other tenants in the building were evicted. And as of 23 May, Fatullayev faces additional charges of "making a terrorist threat," a development that could extend his prison term for many years.

The independent media are being all but shut down in Azerbaijan. The terrorism charges against Fatullayev and the stiff sentences handed out for a harmless editorial and criticism of a member of the president’s family send a message to the press that the confines for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan are becoming more circumscribed.

It is hard to imagine that the remaining opposition newspapers such as Azadlig will tone down their editorial coverage, although independent television network ANS is perceived by many to have done just that since it was allowed back on the air last year after a brief closure. The atmosphere in the country has certainly chilled in over the course of the past couple of weeks, and the government now will have to decide if it has communicated the new rules with sufficient clarity or whether more arrests are in the offing.

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Karl Rahder has taught US foreign policy and international history at colleges and universities in the US and Azerbaijan. In 2004, he was a Visiting Faculty Fellow in Azerbaijan with the Civic Education Project, an academic program funded by the Soros Foundations and the US Department of State. He is currently based in Chicago.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).

URL: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=17659

Azerbaijan: Continuous harassment threatens existence of independent media

Mirza Khazar — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:31:47 -0400

VIENNA, 22 May 2007 -- The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed concern today over the eviction of the country's two main independent newspapers from their premises, and new procedures against their imprisoned editor, Eynulla Fatullayev. On 20 May, the Ministry for Emergency Situations forcibly evacuated the staff of Realniy Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azarbaycan from their offices. The newspapers have not been printed since the eviction and it is unclear when their publication will resume. "The eviction paralyses Azerbaijan's largest and most popular newspapers, in a clear attempt to fully silence them. This is part of an ongoing campaign to do away with independent journalism," said Haraszti. He noted the evacuating authorities cited alleged danger from "structural deficiencies" in the 13-storey building, but had evicted no other tenants. "I have also received worrying news that since the eviction the
newspapers' servers and archives are being searched by national security personnel. All this represents an openly oppressive stance, going beyond the previously seen discriminatory treatment of independent media," Haraszti added. Reportedly, the search warrants were based on a new criminal case against the papers' founder and editor, Eynulla Fatullayev, already convicted last month for 'defamation of a village and of the army'. "I call on the authorities to stop persecuting the remaining free press in Azerbaijan and ensure that Realniy Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azarbaycan can resume their work," said Haraszti. Over the last months, the OSCE Representative has several times expressed his concern over the deteriorating state of freedom of the media in Azerbaijan, including during a visit to Baku where he met President Ilham Aliyev. Seven Azerbaijani journalists are presently in jail, most of them after criminal procedures for libel.

OSCE Press release

-- HREA - http://www.hrea.org Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.

Freedom House: 2006 Countr Report, Azerbaycan is "not free"

Mirza Khazar — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:47:59 -0400

Flawed parliamentary elections in November 2005 capped a year of unfulfilled reform ambitions in Azerbaijan. The elections resulted in the opposition's securing only a small fraction of the 125 seats in the Milli Majlis (National Assembly), with a substantial majority going to the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP) and its allies. The run-up to the election included claims by the regime of an attempted coup, which resulted in the detention and arrest of several former ministers.

After having been controlled by the Ottoman Empire since the seventeenth century, Azerbaijan enjoyed a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1920. It entered the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Republic, becoming a separate Soviet republic in 1936. Following a referendum in 1991, Azerbaijan declared independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union.

In 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey, leader of the nationalist opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front, was elected president in a generally free and fair vote. A military coup one year later ousted him from power and installed the former first secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, Heydar Aliyev, in his place. In the October 1993 presidential elections, Aliyev was credited with receiving nearly 99 percent of the vote. Azerbaijan's first post-Soviet parliamentary elections, held in November 1995, saw five leading opposition parties and some 600 independent candidates barred from the vote in which Aliyev's Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP) won the most seats. In October 1998, Aliyev was chosen president with more than 70 percent of the vote in an election marred by irregularities.

In November 2000, the ruling YAP captured the majority of seats in the parliamentary election. The Azerbaijan Popular Front and the Communist Party came in a distant second and third, respectively. International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe cited widespread electoral fraud, including the stuffing of ballot boxes and a strong pro-gov-ernment bias in state-run media. Despite widespread criticism of the elections, the Council of Europe approved Azerbaijan's application for membership just days after the vote, a decision widely criticized by international human rights groups.

An August 2002 national referendum led to the adoption of a series of constitutional amendments, some of which critics charged would further strengthen the ruling party's grip on power. One controversial amendment stipulated that the prime minister become president if the head of state resigns or is incapacitated. Critics charged that the aging and ailing Aliyev would appoint his son, Ilham, prime minister in order to facilitate a transfer of power within the Aliyev family. Opposition groups and the OSCE charged that the referendum was marred by fraud, including ballot-box stuffing, intimidation of election monitors and officials, and inflated voter-turn-out figures of nearly 90 percent.

In the months preceding the October 2003 presidential election, the political environment was marked by uncertainty over Heydar Aliyev's declining health and its implications for his reelection bid. Aliyev collapsed during a live television broadcast in April and left Azerbaijan that summer to receive medical treatment abroad. At the same time, government officials continued to deny that his health problems were serious, and he remained the official YAP candidate for the presidential election. In June, Aliyev's son, Ilham, was officially nominated as a presidential candidate, and the elder Aliev withdrew his candidacy in favor of his son's on October 2, 2003.

In the 2003 presidential ballot, final election results released by the Central Election Commission showed Ilham Aliyev defeating seven challengers with nearly 77 percent of the vote. His closest rival, opposition Musavat Party leader Isa Gambar received only 14 percent of the vote, while six other candidates received less than 4 percent each. According to OSCE observers, the election was marred by widespread fraud. During violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Baku in October, in which at least one person was reportedly killed and several hundred were injured, the authorities unleashed a crackdown against the opposition in which more than 600 people were detained. Among those arrested were opposition party leaders and supporters who had not been directly involved in the preceding days' violence, along with many election officials who refused to certify fraudulent election results. Heydar Aliyev, who had long dominated the country's political life, died in December 2003.

Over the course of 2004 and 2005, Ilham Aliyev sought to consolidate his position among the country's ruling elite. In the immediate run-up to the November 2005 parliamentary election, a number of former and current senior officials were detained in response to what the regime claimed was a coup attempt. However, observers maintained that the detentions were a move on the president's part to further consolidate control over the country's political elites.

Less than half of all registered voters cast ballots in the legislative poll, the lowest voter turnout in a decade. More than 2,000 candidates registered for the 125 constituencies. However, about a fourth of these candidates ultimately withdrew, in some cases because of intimidation, leaving 1,550 to take part on election day. The elections resulted in the opposition's capturing 10 of 125 seats in the Milli Majlis (National Assembly), with a substantial majority going to the ruling YAP and its allies. Seats in four districts were invalidated by the authorities and were scheduled to be rerun after the end date of the coverage period of this report. The results of the elections were contested by the opposition, which organized a number of rallies in the country's capital.

A settlement for the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Armenia and Azerbaijan fought in the early 1990s, was not achieved, although high-level talks provided a glimmer of hope that a process could be in the works to ameliorate the tense state of affairs. The region, which is formally part of Azerbaijan, is now predominantly ethnically Armenian and effectively under Armenian control.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens of Azerbaijan cannot change their government democratically. The country's constitution provides for a strong presidency and the country's parliament, the 125 member Milli Majlis, exercises little independence from the executive branch. Presidential and parliamentary terms are five years.

The 1993, 1998, and 2003 presidential and 1995 and 2000 parliamentary elections were considered neither free nor fair by international observers. The 2005 parliamentary elections were likewise afflicted by extensive irregularities. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights cited among the elections' shortcomings "interference of local authorities, disproportionate use of force to thwart rallies, arbitrary detentions, restrictive interpretations of campaign provisions and an unbalanced composition of election commissions." President Ilham Aliev issued two decrees, in May and October 2005, directing the administration of free and fair elections; these decrees effectively went unheeded.

Corruption is deeply entrenched throughout society, with government officials rarely held accountable for engaging in corrupt practices. The lack of judicial and parliamentary independence from the executive, among other institutional obstacles, creates an environment that enables corruption. Azerbaijan was ranked 137 out of 159 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index.

While Azerbaijan's constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press, the authorities use a variety of tools to intimidate the press. Journalists are subject to physical harassment and even risk death. In March 2005, Elmar Huseinov, editor of the opposition magazine Monitor, was shot to death in the lobby of his apartment building in Baku. The broadcast media are the main source of information in the country. Of the 16 television stations, 4 broadcast to a national audience; all 4 of these have clear or likely links to the regime. Independent and opposition papers struggle financially in the face of low circulation, limited advertising revenues, and heavy fines or imprisonment of their staff. State businesses rarely if ever advertise in opposition newspapers. While there is some pluralism in the print media, it is irrelevant to the extent that newspapers have relatively low print runs, are not distributed regularly in rural areas, and are frequently too expensive for many people to purchase on a regular basis.

A noteworthy development in 2005 was the unveiling of Azerbaijan's first public service broadcasting channel, which began operations in August. Following the flawed presidential election in 2003, the Council of Europe, of which Azerbaijan is a member, adopted a resolution demanding that the government of Azerbaijan immediately implement a series of measures that included the creation of public service television to allow political parties to better communicate with the country's citizens. The Council of Europe for months exhorted the authorities in Baku to establish a genuinely independent public broadcasting channel, but the regime was slow in implementing the directive. The channel's creation just weeks in advance of the November 2005 election minimized its impact on the election process. The opposition was afforded some television airtime during the election campaign, but overall news coverage was slanted toward the ruling YAP and its candidates.

The government restricts some religious activities of members of "nontraditional" minority religious groups through burdensome registration requirements and interference in the importation and distribution of printed religious materials. Islam, Russian Orthodoxy, and Judaism are considered traditional religions, and their members can generally worship freely.

The government generally does not restrict academic freedom. However, some faculty and students have experienced political pressure. After the October 2003 election and in advance of the 2005 parliamentary poll, some professors and teachers said they were dismissed because of their membership in opposition parties.

The government often restricts freedom of assembly, especially for political parties critical of the government. Registration with the Ministry of Justice is required for a nongovernmental organization (NGO) to function as a legal entity, and the registration process has been described as cumbersome and nontransparent. A week before the 2005 parliamentary elections, Azerbaijan lifted a ban on NGOs receiving more than 30 percent of their funding from foreign sources to serve as election monitors. Although the law permits the formation of trade unions and the right to strike, the majority of trade unions remain closely affiliated with the government and most major industries are state owned.

The judiciary is corrupt, inefficient, and subservient to the executive branch. Arbitrary arrest and detention are common, particularly for members of the political opposition. Detainees are often held for long periods before trial, and their access to lawyers is restricted. Police abuse of suspects during arrest and interrogation reportedly remains commonplace, with torture sometimes used to extract confessions. Prison conditions are reportedly severe, with many inmates suffering from overcrowding and inadequate medical care.

Some members of ethnic minority groups, including the small Armenian population, have complained of discrimination in areas including education, employment, and housing. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris who fled the war in Nagorno-Karabakh have been prevented by the Armenian government from returning to their homes and remain in Azerbaijan, often living in dreadful conditions.

Significant parts of the economy are in the hands of a corrupt elite, which severely limits equality of opportunity. Supporters of the political opposition face job discrimination, demotion, or dismissal.

Traditional societal norms and poor economic conditions restrict women's professional roles. Domestic violence is a problem, and there are no laws regarding spousal abuse. In 2004, Azerbaijan adopted a new national program to combat human trafficking. According to the U.S. State Department's annual 2005 report on human trafficking, Azerbaijan is both a country of origin and a transit point for the trafficking of women for prostitution.

(www.freedomhouse.org)

Azerbaijan: Opposition Editor Sentenced to Prison

Mirza Khazar — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:59:17 -0400

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)

CPJ: Editor brutally beaten after colleague's trial

Mirza Khazar — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:59:59 -0400

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

PACE: “Human rights and democratic principles abused in Azerbaijan”

Mirza Khazar — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:03:28 -0400

Two extensive reports on human rights practices and democracy prepared by Cyprus MP Christos Pourgourides and Azerbaijan reporter Andreas Gross were discussed at the PACE session yesterday.

In the report, Azerbaijan together with Belarus was cited as a country where pressure is being exerted upon people who are involved in protecting of human rights (NGOs, lawyers, journalists). Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine are mentioned there as countries facing the problem of court independence, and the problem of political prisoners is not settled, Turan news agency informs. Azerbaijan is also mentioned in the context of tortures and cruel treatment and, Sardar Jalaloglu (deputy leader of the Democratic Party — REGNUM) is sited as an example as he was caused damage “not only because of brutal treatment by police officers, but because of unjust investigation as well.” Gross’s report calls Azerbaijan among the countries where pressure is exerted upon the media and journalists are attacked. Particularly, murder of the Monitor magazine Elmar Guseinov was mentioned.

Azerbaijan is also mentioned among the countries where there are no possibilities for peaceful and non-violent change of power, which is an important criterion for functioning democracy.

(IA REGNUM)

Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe engages in Abbas Lisani´s case

Mirza Khazar — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:21:00 -0500

Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe engages in Abbas Lisani´s case. Göran Lindblad, the vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the chairman of the Swedish delegation to PACE has written a letter to president Ahmadinejad about Abbas Lisani. He regards the arrestment of Mr. Lisani as unjust and condemns it as well as demands Mr. Lisanis immediate release. Mr. Lindblad also states that the arrestment of Mr Lisani is an act of great contradiction since Mr. Lisani is imprisoned only for advocating his statutory rights, thus fighting a legitimate fight in accordance with Iranian law. Göran Lindblad ensures the Iranian president that he will continue to follow the case of Mr. Lisani in the future. Member of the Swedish Parliament, Mr. Lindblad, is a member of the ruling conservative party in Sweden. Mr. Linblad´s letter can be found in the attached file “LindbladLisani” http://riksdagen.se/webbnav/index.aspx?nid=1111&iid=0870805820217 (Nergiz Nedaei Azerbaycan Gencler Federasiyonu Isvech) _____________________________________________ Stockholm 15 February 2007 His Excellency President Ahmadinejad The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Iran Excellency, We wish to draw your attention to the unjust imprisonment of the prominent Azerbaijani political activist, Mr. Abbas Lisani. From the 1st of January until the 31st of January 2007 Mr. Lisani undertook a hunger strike as a protest against the refusal to grant him a short-term leave and the harassment of his family members. During this 30 day period Mr. Lisani was held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell without heating where the temperatures reaches -10 degrees during the nights. Between the 16th and 18th of January he was transferred from solitary confinement to section 1 of the Ardabil prison and was forced to share his cell with non-political prisoners, some of whom were drug addicts. Because of torture during previous detentions Mr. Lisani was prior to his hunger strike already in a poor health suffering from kidney and stomach problems. His health condition was worsened by the prison authority’s obvious negligence of his health through their conscious ill-treatment of him and through the refusal of allowing him any medical treatment. On the 31st of January 2007, Mr. Lisani ended his hunger strike, in response to the desperate requests from his family and supporters. However, his health condition remains critical and he is still in need of acute medical treatment, something that the Ardabil prison authorities still have not provided him with. According to Amnesty International Mr. Lisani is a prisoner of conscience. He is held confined solely because of his peaceful activities for the cultural rights of the Azerbaijanis and the Azerbaijani language in Iran. According to the United Nations there are approximately 30 million Azerbaijanis in Iran. Yet, there is not a single school in the entire country teaching in their language. In paragraph 15 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran it is clearly stated that the use of mother tongue in schools, as well as in the press and media is allowed alongside Persian . Arresting Mr. Lisani for advocating the implementation of these rights is thus a criminal act and an act of great contradiction. Mr. Lisani is protesting with peaceful and democratic means and in accordance with Iranian law. Therefore we condemn the imprisonment of Mr. Lisani and the harassment of his family members. We lay full responsibility of Mr. Lisani´s health problems in the hands of the Iranian prison authorities and strongly urge You, Mr. President, to take all actions necessary in order to guarantee the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Abbas Lisani. I would also like to ensure You, Mr. President that the case of Mr. Lisani as well as the cultural rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran will continue to draw our attention in the future.

The European Commissions answers question about Mr. Lisani

Mirza Khazar — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:18:00 -0500

The European Commissions answers question about Mr. Lisani. In connection with the re-arrestment of Mr. Abbas Lisani on October 31, the Portuguese member of the European Parliament, Mr. Paulo Casaca, wrote a written question to the European Commission on November 23. The question seeks the answer of the commission on whether or not the commission has followed the case of Mr. Lisani and how the commission can guarantee that he will receive a fair trial Mr. Casaca also wonders what actions the commission will take to ensure respect for the democratic and human rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran? In the attached file and the link below you can read both Mr. Casaca´s question and the answer from the commission. ____________________________ WRITTEN QUESTION E-5287/06 by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission Subject: Abbas Lesani and the rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran In the repercussions from the May-June 2006 extensive demonstrations carried out by Azerbaijanis in the cities of Tabriz, Sulduz, Miyane, Ardebil, Urmiye and Zenjan, one of the most prominent leaders of the fight for the Azerbaijanis' rights, Mr Abbas Lesani, was arrested. I have received reports that while in prison Mr Lesani was exposed to torture, which has led to several current health problems. Mr Lesani was sentenced for vandalism and also for publishing a calendar in the Azeri language and quoting Azeri lyrics. In a series of verdicts in different appeals the case of Mr Lesani has been treated in a way that conflicts with the United Nations Convention on Human Rights. During the entire legal procedure Mr Lesani´s family members were exposed to harassment and threats of being arrested as well. Mr Lesani´s case will be brought up by Iran’s Supreme Court shortly. The case of Mr Lesani is one of the many examples of violations of the rights of the Azerbaijani population in Iran. Has the Commission been following the case of Mr Abbas Lesani and can the Commission guarantee that he will receive a fair trail? What action will the Commission take to ensure respect for the democratic and human rights of the Azerbaijanis in Iran? E-5287/06EN Answer given by Mrs Ferrero-Waldner on behalf of the Commission (12.2.2007) The Commission has been made aware of the sentencing of Mr. Abbas Lesani, allegedly in connection with their peaceful activities in favour of the cultural and linguistic rights of Azeri-speaking Iranian nationals. It is seeking further information about these cases. Generally speaking, the EU is following closely the human rights situation in Iran. Through appropriate diplomatic channels, as well as on the occasion of the EU-Iran Human Rights Dialogue, the EU is raising human rights issues and specific cases with the Iranian authorities. The Commission agrees with the Honourable Member that the right to freedom of expression and that of freedom from discrimination are fundamental rights, which deserve to be properly implemented, as these are enshrined in United Nations (UN) human rights Conventions, as well as in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Nergiz Nedaei Azerbaycan Gencler Federasiyonu Isvech

Human Rights Watch: Travel Bans In Iran Isolate Activists From International Civil Society

Mirza Khazar — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 08:04:26 -0500

Iran: Activists Barred From Traveling Abroad

Travel Bans Isolate Activists From International Civil Society

(New York, February 8, 2007) – The Iranian government should immediately lift foreign travel bans used to prevent human rights activists and journalists from attending international forums, Human Rights Watch said today.

In recent months, Iranian security forces have repeatedly confiscated passports of activists as they prepared to leave for international conferences. In some cases, the authorities detained and interrogated activists upon their return to Iran.

“The Iranian government is effectively putting the country’s civil society leaders under national house arrest,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “After silencing activists inside Iran, the government is preventing them from expressing their views outside the country as well.”

On February 4, representatives of the Information Ministry prevented two prominent activists, Hashim Aghajari and Abdullah Momeni, from departing on a plane to attend an international conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on political reform in Iran. Aghajari is a history professor at Tehran’s Tarbiat Modares University, and Momeni is a spokesman for an organization of former student activists.

Both Aghajari and Momeni had their passports processed and stamped with an exit permit in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. While they waited to board the plane, however, plainclothes officials confiscated their passports and notified them that the Passport Services division of the Presidential Executive Office, under the order of the Revolutionary Court, has imposed a travel ban on them.

In another recent incident, authorities detained Mansoureh Shojai, Sadigheh Tal’at Taghinia and Farnaz Seifi, who are women’s rights activists and journalists, as they were preparing to board a plane to attend a journalism workshop in India on January 27. The security forces subsequently searched the women’s homes, confiscating their personal belongings, including cell phones, computers, books, and notes, and transferred them to section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison, which is run by Iran’s security services.

Shirin Ebadi, the women’s lawyer and the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told Human Rights Watch that there was no prior arrest warrant against the women. On January 28, after interrogating the three women, the authorities charged them with “acting against national security” and released them on bail. The authorities also confiscated the passport of another women’s rights activist, Sussan Tahmasebi, upon her return from a trip abroad in November.

On January 13, security forces at the airport prevented Taghi Rahmani, a writer and civil society activist, from traveling by plane to Denmark, where the PEN Association of Denmark had invited him to deliver a series of lectures.

“All of my official papers were processed in the airport, and the passport authorities stamped my passport with an exit stamp,” Rahmani told Human Rights Watch. “As I was waiting to board the airplane, however, a group of plainclothes security agents approached me and told me that I was banned from leaving the country.”

“They confiscated my passport and told me to follow up with the Passport Services division of the Presidential Executive Office,” Rahmani added. “After I went there, they notified me that the Revolutionary Court’s Deputy for Security, supervised by Tehran’s prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi, had issued the order to ban me from travel. I have not been able to recover my passport so far.”

On November 26, the security forces in Tehran detained Ali Farahbakhsh, a journalist and economist, one week after he had returned from a conference for journalists held in India. Before detaining him, the security services took him in for interrogation each day and pressured him to make confessions that he had endangered national security. After he refused, the authorities detained him. His family told Human Rights Watch that he is being held in section 209 of Evin prison. He was held in solitary confinement for 44 days.

Over the past year, the government has barred several other prominent human rights defenders and writers, including Issa Saharkhiz, Emad Baghi, Fatimeh Govarai and Ahmad Ghabel, from traveling outside Iran.

The government’s travel bans are contrary to Iranian law as well as the country’s obligations under international law.

Iranian law only permits foreign travel bans upon court order for persons formally accused of criminal offenses. On February 4, an official with the Tehran Judiciary, Saberi Zafarghandi, told reporters that “accused persons” can be banned from traveling abroad under article 133 of the Procedures for Criminal Courts. Article 133 provides that, “taking into account the weight of the evidence underlying the charges brought against the accused, a court can ... issue an order to ban the accused of traveling abroad.”

However, none of the activists and journalists subject to the travel bans had been charged with a criminal offense, and therefore none of them can be considered as an “accused person” under article 133. In addition, none of those subject to these travel bans had received any notice from any court of a travel ban against them, as is required by article 133.

International law ensures that all Iranians have a right to leave and return to Iran. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified, in article 12 establishes that “everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”

Restrictions on this right are only permissible when they are prescribed by law, are “necessary to protect national security, public order, public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others,” and are consistent with other fundamental rights – elements which the government has not established. However, none of the Iranians barred from travel had been charged with any offenses, such as threatening national security, when they attempted to travel abroad.

“The Iranian government violated the fundamental right of these men and women to leave and return their country,” said Whitson. “And they did so without regard to Iranian law.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to end its persecution of civil society activists by banning them from foreign travel.

(Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org)