Free Eynulla Fatullayev

Rights campaigners in London protest against continued persecution of jailed editor

Freedom of expression campaigners will protest on Thursday 3 June outside the Azerbaijani embassy in London, calling for an end to the persecution of jailed journalist Eynulla Fatullayev.
Amnesty International UK, ARTICLE 19, English PEN and Index on Censorship will also hand in a letter to the embassy — signed by key literary figures including Monica Ali, Alan Ayckbourn, William Boyd, and Philip Pullman — calling for Fatullayev’s immediate release and for new politically-motivated charges against him to be dropped.
(more…)

Azerbaijan: Journalists’ notes and footage confiscated

On 6 May, video footage was confiscated from Norwegian journalists in Azerbaijan. Television reporter Erling Borgen and cameraman Dag Inge Dahl were investigating the case of editor Eynulla Fatullayev— jailed in 2007 for an article deemed insulting to refugees.  Upon their return to Oslo from Baku, they discovered that information relating to the investigation was missing from their luggage. Fatullayev recently had his prison sentence extended on drugs charges; the European Court of Human Rights last month called for his immediate release.