SURGE IN RESPONSE OVER JAILING OF AZERBAIJANI JOURNALIST
TUESDAY, 09 DECEMBER 2014 10:07
International protests are set this week over the arrest of
award-winning investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova amid widespread
fears that her two-month detention marks the crossing of a “red line”
in human rights abuses in Azerbaijan.
Protests against the detention of Ismayilova, who wrote anti-corruption
investigations for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Organized
Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, have been planned in Georgia
and Romania; one was held in Moldova on Saturday and one in the US
on Monday.
Ismayilova began a two-month pretrial detention on Friday Dec. 5 over
bizarre allegations that she drove a former colleague to attempt
suicide. She spoke by phone this morning to RFE/RL in Baku to say,
“The charges against me are fabricated […] Despite all of this,
I remain strong.”
She urged supporters and fellow journalists to continue their work in
the face of intimidation. “It is very important that one continues to
work and do what you did before. I am expecting more investigations
from my fellow journalists, more initiatives from the human rights
defenders. The work should go on,” she said.
Family members say she has been refused food parcels sent by friends,
despite her dietary restrictions due to a stomach operation.
Authorities at the detention center will reportedly allow parcels
only once per week.
Ismayilova’s arrest has drawn swift and strong criticism worldwide and
has been reported in more than 50 countries. The US Helsinki Committee
has issued a statement of concern, as have Amnesty International,
Freedom House and the Index on Censorship. Journalist organizations
such as Reporters Without Borders and the Global Investigative
Journalism Network have added their voices to the condemnation of
what has widely been called a politically motivated arrest. A Facebook
campaign to “Free Khadija” has also been established.
Ismayilova joins a growing list of journalists and human rights
activists serving time in jails for protesting what they say is a
corrupt and repressive government.
Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch,
said observers in Azerbaijan had been expressing concern about a
growing crackdown for months.
“But Ismayilova’s arrest should be the last straw. International
partners need to make clear to Azerbaijan that there will be no more
business as usual as long as critics remain behind bars,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Aliyev’s spokesman in Baku, Azer Gasimov, blamed
the outcry on an “anti-Azerbaijani campaign” by the US Department of
State and “forces jealous of our country”.
Gasimov, quoted in local media, said: “If you pay attention you
can see that the State Department, which instantly comments on any
small incident in Azerbaijan, gives no reaction to open and flagrant
violation of human rights in several [other] countries.”
One protest against Ismayilova’s arrest took place Monday evening
in Washington DC and was organized by Amanda Rivkin, who lived for a
year in Azerbaijan on a Fulbright scholarship. She said that at the
time she lived in Baku, she felt unable to speak out about repression
because of fear of reprisal. However, she told OCCRP, “I am speaking up
because I am in a country now where I am free to do so without fear.”
She said she thought President Ilham Aliyev craved the respectability
of the West without providing its people with the basic amenities that
one would expect from a developed country, such as gas and electricity.
“So, since the Aliyevs see themselves as ‘first worldly’, I thought a
First World action might make them uncomfortable,” she said. A dozen
activists gathered in front of the Embassy of Azerbaijan, attended
by police and media.
Emin Milli, managing director of Meydan TV – which was accused last
week in a document released by the Presidential Administration of
receiving US$ 300,000 from US and EU sources to work against the
Azerbaijani government – told OCCRP that Ismayilova’s arrest showed
a red line had been crossed and that he was now afraid for his staff.
“It’s not just about our journalists. We have just two or three
independent media platforms in Azerbaijan. Everyone in the country who
works for them is now under threat of being arrested, being called
pro-Armenian, being called CIA spies, and becoming criminals. This
is the atmosphere that we’re living in now,” said Milli.
Human Rights Watch has noted an increase in reports from Azerbaijan
of repression and abuses. It says up to 50 independent reporters and
bloggers as well as political activists have been jailed in the past
two-and-a-half years.
Milli put this down to a change in political climate that has occurred
very quickly.
“Even for us, people who have been working in the media for many years,
it is shocking,” he said.
Although family sources confirmed problems delivering food parcels
to Ismayilova, her lawyer Elton Guliyev said yesterday that he had
visited her in prison where her conditions were “good” and she was
in high spirits.
NGOs have been under government pressure in recent months. In May,
the Baku branch of Oxfam was placed under criminal investigation and,
in September, IREX – a research and training agency – was forced to
pull out of the country. In August, they hadposted on their website
to refute allegations that they were “pro-Armenian”. Their assets
were reportedly then frozen and their office raided.
Most recently the Azerbaijan branch of the US Peace Corps was
last week forced to wind up their activities and leave. US charge
d’affaires for Azerbaijan, Derek Hogan, said he was disappointed that
authorities decided that there was now “no need” for the presence of
the humanitarian organization, which has spent 11 years in the country.
https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/2752-protests-over-journalists-detention-as-azerbaijan-qcrosses-red-lineq