Azerbaijani journalist and Index award-winner Idrak Abbasov was brutally assaulted today. (more…)
Azerbaijani journalist Idrak Abbasov wins the journalism award, which recognises investigative journalism of dogged determination across a range of media, including print, online, radio and televisionFirst of all, I would like to thank Index on Censorship and all those present. I know that there are many people here today who devote their lives to the struggle for other people’s right to know the truth.
In Azerbaijan, where I have come from, telling the truth can cost a journalist their life. In countries such as Azerbaijan we journalists have to make a choice, and we choose the right to tell the truth.
For this right to tell the truth Elmar Guseinov gave his life in 2005. He knew he would not be forgiven, but he did not stop writing the truth.
I am not complaining. I made a conscious choice when I chose this profession, and I thank fate every day for my work.
Censorship, persecution, limited access to public information, arrests – the situation of the mass media in Azerbaijan is growing worse and their freedom is being curtailed year after year.
At the moment, nine journalists are under arrest on trumped-up charges of possessing drugs or weapons. In Azerbaijan, a request from a deputy of the ruling party is sufficient grounds for arresting the editor of a journal that is criticising the government, even in the absence of evidence. This is what happened to Evez Zeynalli.
In the town of Guba, four journalists were arrested without any charge whatsoever. Human rights activists are convinced that they were arrested for passing on to bloggers a video recording of an event that the censor had not wanted to see publicised.
Khadija Ismayilova, a journalist working for Radio Liberty, was blackmailed in an attempt to force her to stop her investigations into offshore companies owned by the President’s family. In 2009 Radio Liberty, the BBC and Voice of America were banned from local radio stations.
This is the price that my colleagues in Azerbaijan are paying for the right of the Azerbaijani people to know the truth about what is happening in their country. For the sake of this right we accept that our lives are in danger, as are the lives of our families. But the goal is worth it, since the right to truth is worth more than a life without truth.
Index’s most recent report Azerbaijan’s silenced voices is online now
As the international community looks forward to the Eurovision Song Contest, Azerbaijan is working hard to present itself as a modern, democratic country. But a new report from Index and partners paints a very different picture
At least two journalists have been injured whilst covering violent clashes between police and residents in Azerbaijan. During protests calling for the resignation of a local government, Index awards nominee Idrak Abbasov, from the Institute for War & Peace suffered an arm injury as stones were thrown at him, whilst Rashid Aliyev, a reporter for the Internet-based Objektiv-TV was hit in the back of the head. During the protests, demonstrators set fire to government buildings and the governor’s house. Five other journalists reportedly suffered the effects of tear gas, after authorities sent riot police to quell the protesters.
Abbasov said: “Me and my colleague Rashad Aliyev were at the center of the developments. I was taking photographs and Rashad was filming. I couldn’t see who threw stones at me, as I was holding the camera in front of my eyes to photograph the developments. A stone hit my left arm and smashed it. But Rashad was more unlucky. A stone hit his head and he received a serious injury to his ear.”