Written by David Brewer

Tweets from supporters of the two Azerbaijani bloggers arrested and detained on 8 July say their appeals at separate hearings have been rejected. The two men, Adnan Hajizada and Emin Abdullayev (Milli), now face two months pre-trial detention before their case on hooliganism charges will be heard. Reuters is reporting that a European Union delegation has protested about the detention of the two.

Blogger Ali S Novruzov was first to tweet that Abdullayev's lawyer had left the hearing and that the appeal had been rejected. Ali also tweeted that the accused's parents have not been allowed to see him since the arrest.

Half an hour Novruzov tweeted that Adnan Hajizada's appeal had also been rejected.

Adnan Hajizadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement which has a Facebook site, the group tweets @olmedia and have a YouTube site. Emin Milli helped set up the Alumni Network (AN). All sites are being continually updated.

According to reports on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, the charges against the two could result in their imprisonment for up to two and a half years.

International pressure for release

According to the Reuters news agency, ambassadors of the EU's 27 member states have submitted a statement to Azerbaijani authorities expressing their concern about human rights and freedom of expression in the country.

The freedom of expression campaign group Article 19 says journalists and media workers in Azerbaijan who voice critical views are often "harassed, arbitrarily arrested, attacked and in one case, killed, while perpetrators of attacks are rarely identified or brought to justice."

Meanwhile 20 UK politicians are call for the immediate release of the two and say there is a "rapidly deteriorating human rights situation" in Azerbaijan.

The UK MPs want the British government to put pressure on President Ilham Aliev to release the two and have made their feelings known in a House of Commons Early Day Motion (the equivalent of an MPs’ petition).

In the motion, Labour MP Paul Flynn says the MPs condemn “the attacks and imprisonment of youth activists in Azerbaijan on 10 July 2009.”

The 20 UK MPs who signed the motion are: Paul Flynn, Lynne Jones, Bob Russell, Andrew Dismore, David Taylor, Martin Caton, Gordon Prentice, Alan Simpson, Kelvin Hopkins, Jeremy Corbyn, Ann Cryer, Mark Durkan, Andrew George, Alasdair McDonnell, Ronnie Campbell, Clive Efford, Rudi Vis, Iris Robinson, John Hemming and Dai Davies.

Last week, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)described the original arrest and detention of the two men as 'disproportionate'.

Four days ago RSF wrote to the Azerbaijani justice minister, Fikret Mamedov, saying that the charges against the two are 'baseless' and should be dropped immediately.

According to reports on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, the charges against the two could result in their imprisonment for up to two and a half years.

Adnan Hajizadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement which has a Facebook site, the group tweets @olmedia and have a YouTube site. Emin Milli helped set up the Alumni Network (AN). All sites are being continually updated.

Supporters of the two have set up an online video petition where people can post video messages calling for their release.