AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHES 2007 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ON AZERBAIJAN
Today.Az
/
24 May 2007
Governments and armed groups around the world are using "the politics
of fear" to crush human rights and encourage dangerous divisions in
society, according to Amnesty International’s 2007 human rights report,
released on Wednesday.
Regarding Azerbaijan the report says that rights to freedoms of
expression and assembly were restricted. Police routinely used force
to disperse demonstrations. Opposition journalists were attacked,
imprisoned or fined on criminal defamation or dubious drugs-related
charges. Opposition politicians were denied rights to due process and
reportedly in some cases medical care and access to legal counsel of
their own choosing. A journalist was extradited to Turkey despite
being at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. People internally
displaced by the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh in 1991-94 had restricted
opportunities to exercise their economic and social rights.
Freedom of expression under attack
Rights to freedoms of expression and assembly were routinely
restricted.
Police dispersed authorized and unauthorized meetings, reportedly
with excessive force on occasion.
â~@¢ Two serious assaults on opposition journalists Fikret Huseynli
and Baxaddin Xaziyev, attacked in March and May respectively by
unidentified assailants, were unsolved at the end of 2006.
â~@¢ Two further assaults by unidentified men took place in late
December. Ali Orucov, press secretary of the opposition Azerbaijan
National Independence Party, suffered bruising and a fractured
finger. Nicat Huseynov, a journalist with the Azadliq newspaper,
was hospitalized with head and internal injuries and a stab wound
after being attacked in the street in broad daylight.
â~@¢ No progress was made in investigating the murder in 2005 of
newspaper editor Elmar Huseynov, widely believed to have been killed
because of his criticism of political corruption.
â~@¢ Criminal defamation proceedings were brought against several
individuals and newspapers. They resulted in the imprisonment of two
journalists, who were pardoned and released in October, and a number
of suspended sentences and heavy fines, in one case leading to the
closure of independent newspaper Realny Azerbaydzhan.
â~@¢ Well-known satirist and government critic Sakit Zahidov of the
Azadliq newspaper was arrested on charges of drug-dealing in June. He
claimed drugs had been forcibly planted on him after he was abducted
and then arrested by plain clothes policemen. After no evidence of
drug-dealing was presented at his trial, the charge was reduced to
use of illegal drugs. However, a urine test at the time of arrest
reportedly showed no evidence of drug usage, and doctors called as
witnesses admitted that their diagnosis of Sakit Zahidov as a drug
addict was based on 30 minutes’ visual observation only. He was
sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. His appeal was rejected in
December; reportedly no new evidence or witnesses were presented at
the hearing.
â~@¢ On 24 November the Azadliq and Bizim Yol newspapers, the Institute
for Reporter Freedom and Safety (a media freedom non-governmental
organization with close links to Azadliq), the independent journalists’
association Yeni Nesil and the Turan news agency were forcibly removed
by police from their premises in Baku following a legal ruling they
claimed was unfounded and politically motivated. Also on 24 November
the National Radio and Television Council decided not to extend the
broadcasting licence of the ANS television company, widely regarded as
the most independent in the country. The cessation of ANS broadcasting
further ended the retransmissions on ANS frequencies of international
radio stations such as the BBC, Radio Liberty and the Voice of America.
Following international and national appeals, on 12 December ANS
was reinstated temporarily pending completion of a tender for its
frequencies scheduled for January 2007.
Unfair trial concerns
â~@¢ Three leaders of the Yeni Fikir youth movement arrested in 2005
on charges of plotting a coup d’etat were imprisoned in July after an
unfair trial. At the trial, only witnesses for the prosecution gave
evidence and no jury was appointed, in contravention of Azerbaijani
law. Allegations of torture in the case of one of the accused, Ruslan
Bashirli, were not investigated, and medical care was reportedly
denied to another, Said Nuri.
â~@¢ Opposition party activist Qadir Musayev was imprisoned in May for
seven years following conviction on charges of drug dealing. Reports
suggested the charges were fabricated because of his refusal to
sign fraudulent election result protocols when serving as a polling
station official.
â~@¢ Former Minister for Economic Development Farhad Aliyev and his
brother Rafiq (no relation to President Aliyev), arrested in October
2005 on charges of plotting to violently overthrow the government,
were allegedly denied due process in pre-trial detention. According
to reports, their right to legal counsel of their choosing was
consistently denied from the time of their arrest, and Farhad Aliyev
was not allowed access to appropriate medical care. No hearings have
been heard in the brothers’ case, and no trial date set. Their property
has been expropriated and family members allegedly intimidated.
Risk of torture
On 13 October, Kurdish journalist Elif Pelit was extradited to Turkey,
where she was detained on charges of membership of the Kurdish Workers’
Party (PKK). In 1999 she had been granted asylum, and subsequently
citizenship, in Germany. She was first arrested in Azerbaijan on
4 November 2004, for crossing the border illegally from Iraq while
on assignment for Mesopotamia, a Kurdish news agency linked to the
PKK. Fined and released in March 2005, she was immediately rearrested
under Turkey’s extradition order, and her extradition was confirmed
by the Supreme Court in October 2005.
Restricted rights for the displaced
People internally displaced by the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh
continued to have their freedom of movement restricted by a cumbersome
internal registration process linking eligibility for employment
and social services to a fixed place of residence. Although there
was progress in moving the displaced out of temporary shelters and
providing housing, many new purpose-built settlements were located in
remote and economically depressed areas. People re-housed in these
settlements faced a lack of jobs and access to basic services such
as education and health care.
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