Media Helping Media

World editors urge release of Azerbaijan bloggers

Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Written by David Brewer

  

The Council of Europe, European Union, US State Department, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the OSCE have all spoken out against the sentences.

The following is the text of the WAN letter sent to the President of Azerbaijan, reproduced with the permission of WAN.

Facebook members can discuss the letter and its likelihood of success on the MHM Facebook discussion page.

His Excellency President Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
Baku, Azerbaijan

16 November 2009

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 20 countries, to condemn and express our absolute dismay at the jailing of two video bloggers.

On 11 November Emin Milli, who runs the online video blog Alumni Network (AN), was sentenced to two and a half years in jail, and Adnan Hajizade, a video blogger and coordinator of the Azerbaijan OL! Youth Movement was jailed or two years on charges of "hooliganism" and "inflicting minor bodily harm".

Before their arrest in [[Baku]] on 8 July, Mr Milli and Mr Hajizade posted videos criticising the government. This included a satirical sketch of a donkey giving a press conference, as well as filming interviews with local residents about corruption and education, and sharing them through YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Mr Milli and Mr Hajizade were arrested by police after reporting that two men attacked them in a restaurant. When the bloggers reported the incident, they were arrested for "hooliganism" and a second charge of inflicting minor bodily harm" was added later.

Reports suggest that the judge ignored witness testimony by diners that Mr Milli and Mr Hajizade were the victims of violence not the perpetrators.

We are seriously concerned that the jailing of Mr Milli and Mr Hajizade is part of your government's systematic campaign to suppress criticism and freedom of expression.

At least nine journalists and bloggers are reportedly in detention, a fact that only confirms the findings of our delegation¹s recent visit to Azerbaijan that there is a "pervasive climate of intimidation and fear" in the Azeri media.

We respectfully remind you that imprisoning journalists and bloggers for criticising the authorities constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international onventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .

We call on you to take all necessary steps to ensure that the convictions of Mr Milli and Mr Hajizade on what appear to be fabricated charges are overturned and that they are immediately released from prison.

We urge you ake all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of free expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O'Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

Xavier Vidal-Folch
President
World Editors Forum

  

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