HRW claims media freedom violations
Media freedom increasingly deteriorated in Azerbaijan in 2007, an
international rights watchdog has claimed.
10 journalists were arrested last year and the authorities used defamation as tools of pressure on independent and opposition media outlets, Human Rights Watch alleged in its annual report assessing countries around the world.
The HRW said the ongoing detention of former high-ranking officials, businessmen and opposition politicians and their torture in police precincts were still unresolved problems in the country. It maintained that less than a year ahead of the presidential poll, a stage is being set for an unfair election campaign.
In a positive development, the report said five of the jailed journalists were pardoned in late 2007. Four others - the editor-in-chief of opposition daily Azadlig Ganimat Zahid, his brother, the publication's employee Mirza Sakit, the editor of Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azerbaijan newspaper Eynulla Fatullayev, and Bizim Yol newspaper's writer Mushfig Huseynov - are still serving their prison terms.
The HRW noted that half of the journalists detained in Azerbaijan in the past two years had been convicted for libel, which it said was the worst indicator among the Council of Europe member states. The group thereby urged the authorities to immediately release the jailed journalists.
The organization claimed that human rights violations were committed in other areas as well. It said the government should take urgent action to improve the rights record and demand that the police honor human rights and put an end to instances of torture. The HRW said the cases of torture against citizens in the past 10 years that caused deaths have either not been investigated or are still under scrutiny.
An MP from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Aydin Mirzazada said the report was merely a repetition of the HRW's assessment released in 2006. "It turns out that nothing has changed in Azerbaijan in the past year?" he queried ironically.
Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that the reports issued by some international groups were biased.
10 journalists were arrested last year and the authorities used defamation as tools of pressure on independent and opposition media outlets, Human Rights Watch alleged in its annual report assessing countries around the world.
The HRW said the ongoing detention of former high-ranking officials, businessmen and opposition politicians and their torture in police precincts were still unresolved problems in the country. It maintained that less than a year ahead of the presidential poll, a stage is being set for an unfair election campaign.
In a positive development, the report said five of the jailed journalists were pardoned in late 2007. Four others - the editor-in-chief of opposition daily Azadlig Ganimat Zahid, his brother, the publication's employee Mirza Sakit, the editor of Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azerbaijan newspaper Eynulla Fatullayev, and Bizim Yol newspaper's writer Mushfig Huseynov - are still serving their prison terms.
The HRW noted that half of the journalists detained in Azerbaijan in the past two years had been convicted for libel, which it said was the worst indicator among the Council of Europe member states. The group thereby urged the authorities to immediately release the jailed journalists.
The organization claimed that human rights violations were committed in other areas as well. It said the government should take urgent action to improve the rights record and demand that the police honor human rights and put an end to instances of torture. The HRW said the cases of torture against citizens in the past 10 years that caused deaths have either not been investigated or are still under scrutiny.
An MP from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Aydin Mirzazada said the report was merely a repetition of the HRW's assessment released in 2006. "It turns out that nothing has changed in Azerbaijan in the past year?" he queried ironically.
Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that the reports issued by some international groups were biased.
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