EDITOR SENTENCED TO SIX-MONTH JAIL TERM
CPJ Press Freedom Online
Committee to Protect Journalists
Nov 18 2008
NY
New York, November 18, 2008–An Azerbaijani court convicted
Ali Hasanov, editor-in-chief of the pro-government daily Ideal,
on defamation charges and sentenced him to six months in jail,
according to the head of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters’
Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Emin Huseynov.
The journalist was taken immediately into custody in court on
Friday. His lawyer plans to appeal the ruling, according to Huseynov.
Hasanov’s trial was based on a lawsuit filed in September by a woman
named Sabira Makhmudova, who claimed that Hasanov and his deputy
editor, Nazim Guliyev insulted her honor and dignity in two articles
published in August. Makhmudova demanded that the two journalists be
imprisoned, Huseynov told CPJ. On October 30, Nasimi District Court
convicted Guliyev in absentia of insulting Makhmudova and ordered
his arrest, the Baku-based news agency Trend reported. He has been
in hiding since mid-October.
"It is alarming that one journalist is in jail and another in hiding
because of a defamation suit that should never have been heard by a
criminal court," CPJ Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "Any
complaint against Ideal or its editor-in-chief, Ali Hasanov, should
have been brought in civil proceedings. We call on the court of
appeal to overturn Hasanov’s conviction. Meanwhile authorities should
release him from jail and drop the threat of criminal charges against
Nazim Guliyev."
Huseynov told CPJ that the two articles–which had no bylines–alleged
that Makhmudova, a Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran, was connected to a
prostitution ring. Huseynov, whose colleagues at IRFS monitored the
editor’s trial, said that Hasanov admitted in court that the newspaper
had published the two articles, but denied any involvement in their
publication. Hasanov said that he only became editor of the paper
after the two articles were published.
With five behind bars, Azerbaijan is the second-leading jailer of
journalists in Europe and Central Asia after Uzbekistan.