{"id":60189,"date":"2014-09-17T15:33:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T14:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=60189"},"modified":"2017-03-27T10:15:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T09:15:42","slug":"five-things-to-know-before-you-visit-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=60189","title":{"rendered":"Jodie Ginsberg: Five things you need to know before visiting Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"baku\"<\/p>\n

London-based daily newspaper Metro ran a feature this month extolling the delights of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The photo-driven feature article comes at a time when the government of President Ilham Aliyev\u00a0is ratcheting up pressure on dissenters, including denying independent news outlets the kind of freedoms that a paper such as Metro, whose parent company is outspoken on the importance of press freedoms, enjoys in the UK.<\/p>\n

Despite attempts to present itself to the outside world as a modern and open society — in part through a concerted international\u00a0PR campaign — Azerbaijan has a woeful human rights record and continues to arrest, detain and harass any opponents to the regime of President Ilham Aliyev. In the last few months, many campaigners and activists have been arrested in an attempt to silence them.<\/p>\n

Metro highlighted 10 things to do in Baku. Here we list just five things you need to know about Azerbaijan before you go. We ask our supporters and all those who care about a free press and free expression to draw attention to these so we can counter the whitewash of the Aliyev regime.<\/p>\n

There is an ongoing crackdown on government critics<\/h2>\n

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\nA number of high profile Azerbaijanis known for their criticism of authorities have been jailed in a matter of weeks. These include human rights activists<\/a> Leyla and Arif Yunus and Rasul Jafarov, human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev and journalist Seymur Hezi. This new wave of repression followed the jailing of two human rights defenders who lead the only independent group monitoring elections in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Independent media is silenced<\/h2>\n

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\nAzerbaijan\u2019s last independent newspaper Azadliq, which was named 2013 Guardian Journalism award winner<\/a> at the Index Freedom of Expression awards in March 2014, was forced to suspend printing<\/a> in July because of financial pressures from the government. This is a familiar pattern for Azerbaijan\u2019s critical press, which has long been subjected to an array of attacks. Independent news outlets face economic sanctions and are often barred from distribution networks. Journalists are also victim to legal threats. In the first six months of 2013, 36 defamation suits were brought against media outlets or journalists. Award-winning investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova was subjected to an aggressive smear and blackmail campaign in retaliation for her coverage of government corruption and continues to be targeted by authorities.<\/p>\n

Internet users are targeted<\/h2>\n