Azerbaijan July 30, 2004

H.E. Ilham Aliyev
President
Office of the President
19 Istiglal kuc.
Baku 370066
Azerbaijani Republic
Fax: (011.994.12) 98-33-28

Your Excellency:

It is shocking to our non-partisan organization, which has been defending press freedom throughout the world for 65 years, to realize the extent to which the press in Azerbaijan is not free.

On July 22, your country celebrated National Press Day, yet recent reports have alerted us to new cases of media repression in Azerbaijan:

? Aydin Gouliev, editor of the opposition daily, Baki Khaber, was abducted and beaten up in Baku on
July 17. According to Gouliev, he had been receiving phone threats for around ten days prior to the evening when four masked men grabbed him and bundled him into a van. They gagged and threatened him, accusing him of failing to serve “his country and Islam” and told him to cease his journalistic work. After several hours, they dumped him by the side of the road.

? Systematic harassment for two months has been reported by two journalists in the autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. Malahat Nasibova, correspondent for the press agency, Turan, and Radio Free Europe; and Mohammed Rzayev, correspondent for the opposition daily, Azadlig, report that every time they cover the authorities’ harassment of the local opposition, they receive a police summons or telephone calls telling them to stop covering the harassment. Nasibova has said that she has received phone calls and Internet messages saying that she risked “mourning family members” unless she stopped her criticism of the authorities.

We were pleased to hear that Hajibala Abutalibov, mayor of Baku, has dropped all criminal charges against Irada Huseynova. The charges stemmed from an article Huseynova wrote in June 2001 for the independent weekly, Bakinsky Bulvar, that criticized Abutalibov for closing important tram lines in Baku, building water fountains during a water shortage and demolishing commercial kiosks. However, we continue to urge you to take all steps necessary to repeal Azerbaijan’s criminal defamation law.

In addition, we note that Rauf Arifoglu, editor of your country’s main opposition daily, Yeni Musavat, has been in jail since October 2003. At the trial which began on May 7, 2004, he was accused of organizing rioting, “disturbing public order” and “refusal to comply.” However, Arifoglu’s lawyer has spoken out against irregularities in the trial and the lack of evidence against his client. Arifoglu’s health has deteriorated in prison, according to Reporters Without Borders. Why not release him on bail while he awaits the outcome of the trial? That would be very kind and very wise.

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In his remarks on the occasion of National Press Day, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, head of the Baku office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, called on his listeners to remember “the significance of free media to Azebaijani democracy, because a free, really independent and vibrant press is the life-blood of strong, functioning societies, and a life-line to progress itself.” But, he continued, the forthcoming elections have heated up the political climate and there has been “a significant increase in acts of violence against journalists, especially during unauthorized rallies, meetings and demonstrations.”

Your Excellency, democracy depends on a free population making informed decisions. And those informed decisions are dependent on freedom of expression and a free press. We urge you, as leader of your country, to take every possible measure to end the threats and harassment journalists currently face in trying to do their jobs in Azerbaijan. You will be providing an invaluable service to your people, and you will improve Azerbaijan’s reputation in the world.

Respectfully yours,

Larry Martz Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee

cc:
Artur Rasizade
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
63 Lermontov kuc.
Baku 370066
Azerbaijani Republic
Fax: (011.994.12) 98-97-86

Hafiz M. Pashayev
Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Azerbaijani Republic
2741 34th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 337-5911

Ambassador Yashar Aliyev
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Azerbaijani Republic
to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 560
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 371-2784

Reno L. Harnish III
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Embassy of the United States of America
83 Azadig Prospect
Baku 37007
Azerbaijan
Fax: (011.994.12) 65-66-71