Azernews.Az

WASHINGTON, D.C. – US rights watchdog Freedom House has termed Azerbaijan as a "not free" country in a report on freedoms worldwide.

The group’s annual report assessing political and property rights rated the South Caucasus republic alongside Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Freedom House said that the elections held in Kyrgyzstan after the toppling of the government in 2010 were relatively free and fair, changing its rating to "partly free" from "not free". Georgia and Moldova saw their rankings improve, while Ukraine was downgraded from "free" to "partly free".

Other countries rated as "partly free" include Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Pakistan and Ukraine.

The territories that Freedom House considers disputed – Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Nagorno Karabakh and Kashmir – were rated as "not free", while Dnestr was ranked "partly free".

Last year, Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenian armed forces since a war in the 1990s, was rated "free".

The report said that overall, civil freedoms around the world deteriorated for a fifth straight year, the longest decline in the 40-year-long reporting history.

It said human rights records of 25 countries considerably worsened in 2010, while 11 countries saw improvements. The number of "free" countries decreased to 87 from 89. Reprisals intensified in countries including China, Egypt, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, while the democratic world took little action to counter them, Freedom House claimed.

Freedom House included Azerbaijan in the list of "not free" countries in its previous report as well. Georgia, Armenia and Turkey – the South Caucasus republic’s neighbors - were rated as "partly free". Azerbaijan’s two other neighbors – Russia and Iran – ranked "not free".

Azerbaijani officials said earlier while commenting on Freedom House’s reports that the organization was biased.