Azeri official says ‘jailed bloggers not journalists’
BAKU – The two bloggers jailed in Azerbaijan are not journalists and the government does not treat their cases as an issue concerning journalists, a senior official has said.
"Today anyone who has a computer could be considered a blogger," Ali Hasanov, head of the Presidential Administration socio-political department, told reporters Tuesday. "As many people who own computers in the world, there are that many bloggers. But it would be wrong to consider every blogger a journalist and apply journalistic ethics and the task of journalists to them."
The two bloggers were jailed on hooliganism charges last year. A Baku court in November 2009 sentenced Emin Milli to two and a half years in prison, while another blogger, Adnan Hajizade, was sentenced to two years in prison. According to official sources, the two assaulted two other men. But some political parties, rights champions and international organizations claimed the bloggers’ arrest was due to their critical writings on the internet.
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