Agence France Presse — English
September 14, 2005 Wednesday 7:53 AM GMT

Detained Azerbaijani opposition activist hospitalized

BAKU

A prominent opposition youth leader detained in connection with
alleged anti-government activity was treated in hospital in unclear
circumstances, the opposition said Wednesday.

The deputy head of the Yeni Fikir youth movement, Said Nuri, was
hospitalized with what may be liver problems after being arrested
Monday in a case linked to an alleged plot to overthrow the
government in a Ukraine-style uprising.

“Nuri has a liver condition. It is quite possible the police used
excessive force and exacerbated the problem, but there is no way of
knowing for sure,” said Murad Gasanly, a spokesman for the Azadlyq
opposition bloc.

Late Tuesday about a dozen police blocked the entrance to one of
Baku’s main hospitals where Nuri was believed to be receiving
treatment.

An officer at the scene told AFP Nuri had been hospitalized with a
headache and had since been returned to a central police station.

However according to Gasanly, Nuri received a blood transfusion at
the hospital early Wednesday and was due to be sent home later in the
day.

“Some of the Western embassies made phone calls to the government
last night, and because of the pressure he may be released,” Gasanly
said.

On Tuesday prosecutors said Nuri’s detention was linked to the arrest
last month of Yeni Fikir’s leader, Ruslan Bashirli, who was charged
with plotting a Ukraine-style uprising backed by the US-based
National Democratic Institute (NDI), a democracy pressure group, and
money from Armenia’s government.

Both the NDI and Armenia have denied the allegations, with Yeni Fikir
claiming the case is a state-sponsored smear campaign directed at the
opposition ahead of parliamentary elections in November.

Yeni Fikir participated in a demonstration by some 20,000
anti-government protestors in the capital Baku on Saturday to mark
the official start of election campaigning.

The last national vote in the mostly Muslim republic, the 2003
presidential elections in which President Ilham Aliyev took over from
his father Heydar Aliyev, ended in two days of rioting and hundreds
of arrests.