The working condition of journalists in Azerbaijan is changing for the worse, where they are being targeted by the State to set an example against free expression. The country, ironically, scooped up a Freedom of Expression prize this year, given jointly by the Norwegian Freedom of Expression Foundation (Fritt Ord) and German ZEIT Foundation.
Recently, a Baku appeal court convicted Editor-in-Chief Samir Sadagatoglu and writer Rafiq Tagi of the independent newspaper Senet of inciting religious hatred and sentencing the former to four years in prison, and imprisoning Tagi to three years.
The charges stemmed from a critical piece in November 2006, "Europe and Us," in which Tagi said Islamic values were hindering Azerbaijan's economic and political development. The article referred to Islam as a cause of infighting. Consequently, Tagi and Sadagatoglu were detained that month and held in pretrial detention for more than four months.
In neighbouring Iran, Ayatollah Mohammed Fazel Lankarani, one of Iran's most senior clerics, issued a fatwa against them threatening death. Islamic radicals also attended the journalists’ trial in April and May. On April 26, a group of 40 activists openly threatened Tagi and Sadagatoglu and harassed several other journalists covering the trial, the Moscow-based media watchdog Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES) reported.
Joel Simon Executive Director of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the conviction. He said, "Rafiq Tagi and Samir Sadagatoglu have already spent eight months in prison simply for expressing an opinion. While we recognise some readers may have been offended by that opinion, there is no justification for jailing journalists for what they publish or threatening them with death.†CPJ also called on the Azerbaijani authorities to overturn this conviction and free both journalists immediately.
Azerbaijani authorities have also charged an independent journalist who is already serving a 30-month sentence for defamation with inciting hatred. Eynulla Fatullayev, imprisoned editor of the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan is being continually persecuted, and so is his staff, according to CPJ.
The Ministry of National Security (MNB) brought a new criminal charge of incitement to ethnic and religious hatred against Fatullayev. The government also formally charged Fatullayev with terrorism in Sabail District Court in Baku which could cause him to serve 17 years in prison. Government officials claim the journalist, a persistent government critic, assisted Armenian Special Forces, but they have not elaborated on the charge, CPJ reported.
The charges stem from a commentary headlined, "The Aliyevs Go to War," published earlier this year in the Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and written by Rovshan Bagirov. The commentary focused on President Ilham Aliyev's foreign policy regarding Iran and it contained harshly critical language about the Azerbaijani government.
Imprisoned, Fatullayev was quoted as saying by the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS), a local press freedom group, "For nine days, I have been hungry and thirsty." Moscow-based news agency Regnum and local press reports claim that the journalist has been forced to sleep on an iron bed without a mattress and has received multiple death threats from unknown persons.
"These disproportionate sentences highlight the degree to which free speech is under threat in Azerbaijan." Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) commented on the convictions.
MNB also has interrogated Gündalik Azarbaycan editors Shahvaled Chobanoglu, Uzeir Jafarov, and Khalid Kazimli about the paper's financing, its sales, the topics Fatullayev covered, and the weekly's editorial independence from Realny Azerbaijan. According to an IRFS report, Chobanoglu was also questioned about "The Aliyevs Go to War," although the piece did not appear in Gündalik Azarbaycan.
Both papers have been shut down and local authorities have gone to the extent of evicting both Realny Azerbaijan and Gündalik Azarbaycan staff from their Baku offices on May 21, saying that the office building violated safety regulations. Authorities seized computers from the premises, which were subsequently sealed.
RSF condemned this action and said, "First the offices of Gundelik Azerbaijan and Realny Azerbaijan were shut down for alleged fire safety violations, then on May 26, the owner of their premises suddenly rescinded their lease, forcing them to vacate immediately. They would have us believe this is just a coincidence. These are the methods of an authoritarian regime."
RSF also reacted strongly against the constant government harassment of the two daily newspapers which has led 15 journalists working for them to seek political asylum between May 25 and 29 after their newspapers closed down.
The 15 journalists submitted their political asylum requests to the US, German, British and Norwegian embassies and the office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They include Gundelik Azerbaijan editor Uzeir Jafarov, who said they were seeking asylum because of prosecution, and because arrests and attacks made it impossible for them to work as journalists. Jafarov was attacked and beaten up in April after giving evidence at the trial of Eynulla Fatullaev.
RSF has said, "If President Ilham Aliev wants to protect the press, he should help these two daily newspapers find new premises. The 41 employees and contributors to these newspapers are now without any source of income; some of them feel threatened and the country's press is all the poorer."
Lately on July 10, IRFS reported that another imprisoned journalist Sakit Zahidov (Mirza Sakit) was on a hunger strike against prison conditions and inadequate medical treatment. Since June 2006 Zahidov has been serving a three year-prison on what IRFS says is a false charge of drug possession.
President Aliev seems to be pitching against journalist in Azerbaijan. In a speech made to a group of police academy graduates on July 2, 2007, Aliev told the group that he had "banned sanctions" against policemen responsible for violence against journalists covering the November 2005 legislative elections. "I will always support the police," he said.
Policemen beat up 14 journalists during a demonstration by the opposition alliance Azadlig on October 9, 2005. Two of them, Ramiz Nadjafli, the editor of the weekly Boz Gurd, and Idrak Abbasov, a correspondent of the daily Ayna-Zerkalo, had to be rushed to hospital.
RSF condemned the statement, "By saying this, the President has come out in support of complete impunity." It added, "Instead of urging the police to behave better towards the press, he is encouraging them to do the same all over again."
With seven journalists behind bars, Azerbaijan fares as the leading jailer of journalists in Europe and Central Asia region. According to CPJ research, it is also one of the top 10 backsliders on press freedom.
