May 15th, 2013
Index on Censorship and partner organizations have strongly condemned moves by Azerbaijan’s government on Tuesday to criminalise online slander and abuse in the run-up to the country’s October Presidential election.
The government claims the move will give it the ability to more effectively oversee the web, the AFP reported. The opposition argues the law will have a chilling effect on free expression and could be used to stifle dissent.
Index on Censorship has previously criticised attempts by governments to control the online activities of their citizens. In the latest development, Index has joined a coalition to strongly condemn a series of repressive legislative amendments that Azerbaijan’s National Assembly adopted Tuesday.
The existing penalties for criminal defamation and insult in the media have been extended to online content, including Azerbaijan’s social networks. The length of “administrative” detention – 15 days without referring to a court has increased to 90 days.
More Azerbaijan >>>
• Azerbaijan’s Facebook fight
• In Depth: The Truth About Azerbaijan (19 Sep, 2012)
• Complete Coverage
May 23rd, 2012
This letter appeared in the Financial Times, 23/05/12
For all of us who support and defend freedom of expression and a free press, it is encouraging indeed to see that the ability of governments with bad or dubious human rights records to whitewash their image and promote their international profile through hosting big sports, arts and music events is on the decline. (more…)
April 24th, 2012
Public Meeting
6.30–8.00pm, Monday, 11 June 2012
Committee Room 9, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
To attend please RSVP to m.gassanly@gmail.com
Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive, Index on Censorship
Emin Milli, Azerbaijani dissident, blogger and writer; former prisoner of conscience
Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman, European Stability Initiative
Murad Gassanly, Director, Azerbaijan Democratic Association-UK
In May 2012 Azerbaijan played host to the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The event brought unprecedented international media attention to the country and the many problems it is facing – from the ongoing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno Karabakh region to the dire human rights situation and corruption. The government of President Ilham Aliev came under sustained criticism from domestic and international human rights and pro-democracy organisations over the issue of political prisoners, multiple violations of property rights, persecution of independent and opposition journalists, systemic violations of freedom of assembly and expression, and widespread corruption.
Can the situation in Azerbaijan change? Will the new interest and attention to the country translate into meaningful support for human rights in Azerbaijan? What can the international community and civil society do to facilitate democratic transformation in Azerbaijan, especially in view of major public relations and lobbying effort by President Aliev’s regime in Britain, wider Europe and the US?
By kind invitation of Paul Flynn MP, Azerbaijan Democratic Association-UK is pleased to invite you to a discussion of these and other issues, with Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, Emin Milli, Azerbaijani writer, blogger and dissident, former prisoner of conscience, Gerald Knaus, Founding Chairman and analyst with the European Stability Initiative, and Murad Gassanly, ADA-UK director.
TIME: 6.30pm – 8.00pm
DATE: 11 June 2012
VENUE: Committee Room 9, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
To attend please RSVP to: m.gassanly@gmail.com
Biographies:
Kirsty Hughes is the newly appointed Chief Executive of Index on Censorship. Her distinguished career has taken her from Chatham House to the IPPR and the European Commission. More recently, she was head of Global Public Policy and Advocacy at Oxfam. Currently Senior Associate Fellow, at the Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford, Kirsty is also an experienced writer, policy analyst and journalist who has written extensively on European and international politics. http://www.indexoncensorship.org/
Emin Milli is a prominent Azerbaijani human rights campaigner and pro-democracy advocate. Writer, blogger and dissident, Emin is an outspoken critic of corruption and authoritarianism, and a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, having spent 17 months in prison in Azerbaijan on politically-motivated charges. He is about to complete his Masters at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. http://eminmilli.posterous.com/
Gerald Knaus is founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI). He is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and Associate Fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where he lectured on state building and intervention as a Visiting Fellow in 2010/2011. Recently ESI published the report Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan Silenced the Council of Europe, available on www.esiweb.org.
Murad Gassanly is the Director of ADA-UK. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and holds a Masters degree in International Relations from the School of European Studies, Cardiff University. He is currently studying for PhD at Cardiff University.
