If the ignominy of coming last in the Eurovision Song Contest was not enough, Norway suffered a further humiliation when it was alleged that a journalist from their official delegation was threatened, stripped to his underwear and told to stamp on an Iranian flag by police at Baku airport. Norway’s Tooji received only seven points on Saturday’s final for his song “Stay”, ensuring that Englebert Humperdinck did not come last. However, this poor showing apparently did not quell the Azerbaijani authorities’ interest in the country.
On Friday, a crew from Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) arrived at Baku airport to catch a flight back to Oslo, among them was Iranian-Norwegian comedian Amir Asgharnejad. Asgharnejad apparently attracted the ire of figures in the Caspian state with his satirical videos around Baku during the week of the Eurovision. Playing a character called Bijan Samami, reminiscent of Sacha Baron Cohen’s creation “Borat”, he jokingly extolled the virtues of Iran and maligned neighbouring Azerbaijan. In a clip of him performing a dance routine, his foot appears to touch a nearby Azerbaijani flag. At passport control, Asgharnejad was taken to a room for questioning while his three colleagues were taken to the plane.
Director of Communications at NRK, Tommy Hansen said: “Between six and seven uniformed police questioned Amir for ninety minutes. They first accused him of possessing narcotics, before ordering him to strip down to his underwear. They then forced him to stamp and spit on the Iranian flag.” Mr Asgharnejad also claims that the officers filmed this event and just before he left the interrogation, he was informed: “If you tell anybody in Norway about this, we will hunt you down and kill you.” A spokesman for the Azerbaijan government, Elman Abdullayev, called the allegations “lies” and “fabrications”.
“This was a routine security procedure because Mr Asgharnejad’s passport photo was taken fifteen years ago and he looked different. This journalist made a video where he kicked the Azerbaijan flag and for this reason, he should not be taken seriously. If someone kicked the British flag, what would you do?”
Tommy Hansen added: “We are curious as to whether this is official policy of Azerbaijani authorities or just a group of police officers behaving badly. We consider this inappropriate to the working conditions of journalists and against human rights.” If true, the incident will no doubt sour relations between Norway and the oil-rich post-Soviet nation, to say nothing of the frosty situation with Iran. Recently the two neighbouring countries have traded insults after Ayatollah Sobhani, a senior cleric, accused Azerbaijan of organising a “gay parade” alongside the song contest. Ali Hasanov, an Azerbaijani government official, retorted: “Azerbaijan does not even have a word for ‘gay parade’. Unlike Iran.” Subsequent demonstrations outside the Iranian embassy in Baku, where protesters allegedly held placards insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, caused Tehran to withdraw its ambassador on Tuesday. Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hanne Melfald referred to the alleged treatment of Mr Asgharnejad as a “serious incident”.
Andrew Connelly is a freelance journalist based in London and currently in Baku. You can follow him at @connellyandrew.
Moscow journalist Sergei Aslanyan was stabbed repeatedly earlier this week. Anslanyan, who specialises in motoring and hosts a programme on state Mayak radio station, was attacked on 29 May after a stranger called him and asked to leave his apartment “for a talk”. Aslanyan was attacked as he left the house. He managed to call an ambulance himself, and is now in a stable condition in hospital, where he is under police guard.
Some of Aslanyan’s colleagues believe the attack was caused by comments about the prophet Muhammad he made on a radio station. Sergei Arkhipov, head or radio at VGTRK state holding, which owns Mayak radio, said Aslanyan heard his attacker say “You dislike Allah”.
The Muslim society of Tatarstan had expressed concerns about Aslanyan’s anti-Muslim comments in an appeal to Russia’s general prosecutor’s office. After the journalist was attacked, they condemned both the assault and premature conclusions about “Muslim trace” in the case. Their leader Rishat Khamidullin told journalists that Aslanyan was treated brutally and “such an attack after his insulting statements is no more than a provocation against the Muslims”.
Attacks on journalists are common in Russia. In April Novaya Gazeta reporter Elena Milashina was beaten near her house. In May three journalists of Novaya Gazeta branch in Ryazan were beaten. Another newspaper’s reporter, Diana Khachatryan, alleged she was threatened by pro-Kremlin youth movements after publishing an article about the United Russia congress.
The latest most scandalous attacks on journalists include the beatings of Kommersant’s Oleg Kashin, and Khimki Truth’s Mikhail Beketov, and the murders of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova, who wrote columns for the same paper while working for Memorial human rights centre. In the vast majority of these cases, no one has been brough to justice.
Freedom House placed Russia at 172 out of 197 countries for press freedom this year.
A journalist has been arrested in Malawi for writing an article on a same-sex engagement ceremony. Clement Chinoko, who works for Blantyre Newspapers Limited, was arrested on 26 May after an article appeared in the Malawi’s Sunday Times on 20 May detailing the engagement of two women in the southern city of Blantyre. The journalist has been charged with “conduct likely to cause breach of peace” and police spokesman Nicholas Gondwa has claimed the article is a fake. Chinoko has not yet been taken to court or been released on bail. Earlier this month, Malawi’s President Joyce Banda announced plans to repeal the country’s laws against homosexuality.
The Manouba-based headquarters of privately Tunisian owned TV network, Elhiwar Ettounsi (Tunisian Dialogue), were attacked early Sunday morning.
Taher Ben Hassine, the channel’s chief, told Radio Mosaïque FM that the attackers “vandalised everything”. He said:
History is repeating itself; Ben Ali thugs attacked our headquarters, and burned computers. We elected a national constituent assembly, to protect people, draft a new constitution, and improve the country’s situation, but the situation now is even worse…
Elhiwar Ettounsi was launched in 2003, and succeeded in broadcasting for a few hours per week despite the Ben Ali regime’s tight control over the media sector. Like any other independent media during that era, the channel faced censorship and financial restrictions.
According to a report released by the station, the attackers also stole video recording equipment and laptops. The station condemned the attack as “a subjugation attempt” — but did not make any specific accusations — opting instead to await the results of police investigations.
“We, Elhiwar Ettounsi channel team, do not accuse any party, and we believe that law which is above all, will take the course of justice” the channel said in a statement made on their official Facebook page.
Some have speculated that members of Tunisia’s hardline Islamist Salafis might be responsible for the attacks. National Syndicate for Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) board member Zied Heni pointed out to Radio Mosaïque FM that the attacks “took place following the channel’s broadcast of reports illustrating Salafi groups committing crimes. Elhwiar Ettounsi was among few media outlets to report on such crimes”.
