11 Jun 2015 | Azerbaijan Statements, Campaigns, mobile
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova is one of the government critics jailed ahead of the European Games.
Sustained efforts to silence critical voices by banning foreign journalists and rights groups tarnishes the inaugural European Games. Host country Azerbaijan has a dismal human rights record and has been involved in a crackdown internally on groups and individuals who speak out against the government: there are currently 80 political prisoners in jail, including award-winning investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev and pro-democracy campaigner Rasul Jafarov. Others are in exile or in hiding.
It is vital that external observers should be able to see and hear for themselves what is happening in Azerbaijan and the European Games provide an occasion to do just that. Sadly, Azerbaijan appears to be taking the same intolerant attitude towards foreign journalists and civil rights groups as it does at home. Journalists due to cover the games have been barred from entering the country, despite the European Olympic Committees’ commitment that it would uphold the Olympic Charter and would guarantee that media would be able to report freely.
The day before the opening ceremony and three hours before boarding his flight to Baku, The Guardian’s chief sports correspondent Owen Gibson learnt he was banned from reporting on the games. Earlier this week Amnesty was told it would not be able to present its report about human rights violations committed ahead of the games in Baku as planned and its representatives would not be welcome. Emma Hughes of UK-based non-governmental organisation Platform was barred from entering the country upon her arrival at Baku airport.
This is not acceptable. Azerbaijan’s actions are in direct contravention of the Olympic Charter. The European Olympic Committees (EOC) has the responsibility to demand Azerbaijan immediately reverses its decision to bar civil society groups and journalists from the country. Without such representatives, the EOC risks being complicit in a cover-up of human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, betraying the values and principles that are meant to lie at the heart of the Olympic movement.
Tomorrow, Index on Censorship will join Sport for Rights, Amnesty International UK, Article 19 and Platform for a demonstration in London calling for an end to the human rights crackdown in Azerbaijan, and the release of the country’s jailed journalists and human rights defenders.
11 Jun 2015 | Europe and Central Asia, mobile, News and features, Russia
Pope Francis met with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photos: Pope Francis: Korean Culture and Information Service/Wikimedia Commons; Vladimir Putin: Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons)
What might have happened when the leader of the world’s largest state met the leader of the world’s smallest?
Francis: Welcome to the Vatican, Vladimir. I hope you are not put off by my incredibly humble surroundings, here in my own humble city state. I am very humble, you know.
Vladimir: Yes, so your aides reminded me, several times. It is very important for men as important as ourselves to stay humble, I believe. We would not want to, as they say, “lose the run of ourselves”. Tell me, dear humble priest: I hear you are a communist now?
Francis (laughing, filled with divine light and humility): Haha! Not quite, comrade. The only redistribution I’m interested in is the redistribution of Christ’s love. The only means of production I want to seize control of are the means of production of compassion in men’s hearts. The only permanent revol…
Vlad: Right, yes, I think I get it. So, the whole “praying for the conversion of Russia” thing: that’s not a thing any more?
Frank: Oh that? Lord no. Thing of the past. If anything, we’re praying for the rest of the world to be more like Russia. Look at the rest of the world: secular, godless, decadent, lacking a certain…what’s the word I’m looking for?
Vlad: Humility?
Frank: Yeah, that’s the one. Lacking humility. But Russia. In Russia, the church is still number one. Admittedly, the wrong church, but, well, who am I to be picky?
Vlad: Good to know. So, where did the communist thing come from?
Frank: Ah, the Americans. You know how they are.
Vlad: I see. So you have been defamed by the Yanqui too? I have had my trouble with them. They even claimed I invaded Ukraine. HAHAHA!
Frank (nervously, humbly): HAHAHAHAHAH (hmm). Daft, of course. I mean, you didn’t, did you?
Vlad: Of course not! Why would I do that?
Frank: Well, they might have insulted your mother. In which case you’d have every right, as I outlined in my pamphlet: “Ego In Gutture Ferrum, Punk”
Vlad: Um, right.
Frank: It’s totally theologically sound. As Jesus himself said: “I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, punch them in the throat.”
Vlad (under breath): Catholics are weird
Frank: You talking about my mother?
Vlad: No! No! Lord no. Holy Father, if I may call you that…
Frank: I humbly accept the title
Vlad: Holy Father, it is true, as you said, that if someone insults someone’s mother, they should expect a punch?
Fran: It’s not just me saying that. Jesus says it!
Vlad: I’m almost certain he doesn’t, but hey, you’re the Pope.
Frank: I am, you know.
Vlad: Anyway, what does one do when someone, say, doesn’t insult your mother, but insults you, and you can’t punch them in the throat because they’re women and apparently you’re not supposed to do that anymore?
Frank: Not following.
Vlad: That, group: those awful people whose name I can’t really say in front of a priest.
Frank: Ah! The Pussy Riots band!
Vlad: Well, I was thinking “the feminists”, but yes, them. Was it OK to send them to the Gulag?
Frank: I’m not really sure I’m in a position to comment here. The organisation of which I humbly find myself head doesn’t have…we don’t have a great track record on the whole locking-up-unruly-girls thing.
Vlad: Oh yes, that. You’ve stopped doing that, right?
Frank: Pretty much. How about you? Your lot were pretty keen on the whole packing-em-off thing.
Vlad: Ha, yes. I’ll square with you, Frank. Can I call you Frank?
Frank: No.
Vlad: Ah. Ok. Awks. Er, I’ll square with you, Holy Father: the gulag thing’s a hard habit to break. You know, you’ve got the rigged courts, the fantasy charges… but most of all, I mean…it’s heritage, isn’t it? Tradition.
Frank: Tradition!
Vlad: Tradition, you know…(sings) “Il Papa. Il Papa, Tradition!”
Frank: Stop that.
Vlad: Sorry, can’t help myself. Love that show.
Frank: Yes, we all do. But, y’know, not here. Vatican and all that. Don’t have a great record on those people either.
Vlad. Who? Musical theatre people?
Frank: Well, I was going to say the…but yes, the musical theatre people.
Vlad: We too have our trouble with the musical theatre people. Must they be so theatrical? In front of the children? I mean, what if everyone was theatrical? What then? Everyone would be putting the show on right here and no one would be making babies.
Frank: So true.
Vlad: I mean, it’s not like I’m obsessed or anything. I’m not that bothered by them, honest. Hell, I’ve even been to a few musicals.
Frank: Let he among us who hasn’t been touched by musical theatre throw the first punch.
Vlad: Um, right.
Frank: Ha! I see even you are a bit put out by the constant talk of punching. But I was a bouncer in Buenos Aires. And you know what we say in Argentina? “You can’t spell ‘Bad Boy’ without BA!” Ha!
Vlad: Good one. Back in Leningrad we used to say “You can’t spell ‘Please! Stop! I’ll confess to anything!’ without ‘KGB’”
Frank: ?
Vlad: It works in Russian. Different alphabet.
Frank: Of course.
Vlad: Anyway, where was I? Yes, the musical theatre people. I mean, all very well in it’s place…
Frank: New York?
Vlad: EXACTLY. But why bring it to Russia?
Frank: Exactly. Sometimes its like they think they should have their own stage in their own building in every parish in the world where they can get all dressed up and put on their strange little performances, and we’re all supposed to worship them for it. Such arrogance, a humble man such as I cannot countenance.
Vlad: Quite.
Frank: I’m glad we can agree on so much. Tell me, you seem like a good, God-fearing, throat-punching man…
Vlad: Why thank you
Frank: Why is it you get such bad press?
Vlad: Well, I’ve got a plan to deal with that.
Frank: Really? Me too. I noticed the guy before me came across as a bit austere, so I decided to say all the same things he said, but in a much more liberal-sounding way. The media loves it. So, what’s your plan for dealing with journalists?
Vlad: Kill them.
Frank: Oh! Ah well, suffer little children to come unto me, as the Lord said.
Vlad: I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Frank: Vlad, you’re a pal, but who’s the one with a direct line to God here?
Vlad: Good question, comrade. Good question.
(Lunch is served).
This column was posted on 12 June 2015 at indexoncensorship.org
10 Jun 2015 | Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan News, Europe and Central Asia, mobile, News and features
From top left: Arif Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, Leyla Yunus, Khadija Ismayilova, Intigam Aliyev and Anar Mammadli – some of the government critics jailed on trumped up charges in Azerbaijan
On the eve of the inaugural European Games, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, activists from Amnesty International and Platform have been banned from entering the country. Both organisations have been highly critical of President Ilham Aliyev’s government, and its continuing targeting, jailing and prosecution of activists and journalists. Amnesty was set to present its findings on the state of human rights in Azerbaijan at an event in the capital on 10 June.
Emma Hughes of London-based NGO Platform was travelling to Baku on Tuesday afternoon with a press accreditation. After landing she was taken off the plane by security for questioning, where she was told she was on a “red list”. Her passport was taken away and she was held overnight at the airport before being deported. CCTV images of Hughes in detention surfaced in Azerbaijani media on Tuesday.
Platform has been campaigning against British oil company BP’s involvement in the oil rich former Soviet state. Platform’s new book — All that Glitters — Sport, BP and Repression — written by Hughes, will be released on 12 June, the opening day of the games.
“I’m being detained on the orders of the BP-Aliyev regime. I may get deported, but over 100 political prisoners in Azerbaijan face years in jail until the oil-funded regime falls. Civil society has been stamped on hard in Baku. Journalists, lawyers, academics, writers and activists have all found themselves behind bars. And yet the Oil Games carry on regardless. The future of this country is imprisoned, yet BP still work hand in hand with this regime,” Hughes said from Baku airport before her deportation.
Amnesty was set to present findings from a research trip they undertook in March at the briefing Azerbaijan: the Repression Games, with four staff members preparing to travel to Baku on the morning of 10 June. Amnesty was informed on Tuesday 9 June, via the Azerbaijani embassy in London, that “Azerbaijan is not in a position to welcome the Amnesty mission to Baku at the present time”, and suggested to postpone the trip until after the games.
Naomi Westland, who works on issues around sports and human rights at Amnesty, was one of the staff members hoping to present in Baku. Speaking from Tiblisi, Georgia, she said everything from visas and plane tickets; to venues, speakers and guests for the briefing had been arranged before the last-minute government U-turn.
“Amnesty being barred proves all the criticism levelled at Azerbaijan has been absolutely right. There has been an intense crackdown on human rights ahead of the European Games. This proves the Azerbaijani authorities want to create a criticism free zone while the world’s media is in attendance. The games are a massive PR exercise to present Azerbaijan as a modern, dynamic, progressive state. Behind the scenes, the reverse is the case. Amnesty has become victims of the repression meted out in Azerbaijan,” Westland told Index.
The banning of Platform and Amnesty comes after a Human Rights Watch researcher, Giorgi Gogia, was denied entry and detained in March at Baku airport for 30 hours, before being deported.
The human rights situation in Azerbaijan has deteriorated in the months leading up to the games. Since last summer, the country’s most prominent critical voices — including investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, human rights activists Leyla and Arif Yunus, human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev and pro-democracy campaigner Rasul Jafarov — have been jailed on charges widely dismissed as trumped up and politically motivated. Critics believe the government of President Ilham Aliyev is using the games as and international image laundering exercise.
Politicians, high-level Olympic officials and athletes have in recent weeks faced mounting pressure to use the games to take a stand on the crackdown. The campaigning group Sports for Rights — initiated by Jafarov before his arrest — has called on European leaders to make their attendance of the games conditioned on the release of political prisoners, while Lord Coe, chairman of the British Olympic Association, has been urged to use the games to show support for fundamental rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan. Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner Nils Muižnieks has encouraged games participants to user their platforms to speak out about human rights situation.
In Depth
• Azerbaijan: Silencing human rights
This article was posted on 10 June 2015 at indexoncensorship.org
