On World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2016, Azerbaijan’s independent media is under greater attack than ever before.
The undersigned members of the Sport for Rights coalition condemn the Azerbaijani authorities’ relentless crackdown on the independent media and other critical voices. Sport for Rights calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to implement immediate and concrete steps to improve freedom of expression in the country, starting with the unconditional release of UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize winner Khadija Ismayilova and Azerbaijan’s other jailed journalists, bloggers, and other political prisoners.
Despite the recent releases of 16 political prisoners, dozens remain jailed for political reasons in Azerbaijan. Among them are journalists Nijat Aliyev, Araz Guliyev, Seymur Hezi, and Khadija Ismayilova; bloggers Abdul Abilov, Faraj Karimov, Rashad Ramazanov, and Ilkin Rustemzade; and others targeted in connection with exercising their right to freedom of expression, such as opposition Republican Alternative (REAL) movement leader Ilgar Mammadov.
The authorities’ pressure on journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been particularly relentless. She has been extensively targeted for exposing corruption of President Aliyev’s family and other ruling elite, topics recently brought into the spotlight again by the Panama Papers leaks. Ismayilova is currently serving a 7.5-year prison sentence on spurious charges of illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, and abuse of power.
“The continued imprisonment of Khadija Ismayilova and other journalists is unacceptable and undermines any goodwill generated by the recent releases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. UNESCO’s decision to award Ismayilova the World Press Freedom Prize should serve to inspire renewed international calls for her release. The Azerbaijani government must free Ismayilova and cease its attack on critical voices”, said Jesper Højberg, Executive Director of International Media Support.
At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities have shown that their revolving-door policy of politically motivated arrests is still in place. On 30 March, 79-year old writer Akram Aylisli was detained at the Baku airport on the way to a literary festival in Italy. He was questioned for 12 hours and told he was under a travel ban. Aylisli now faces up to three years in jail on spurious charges of violently resisting authorities.
The Azerbaijan Prosecutor General’s Office has also opened a criminal case against Meydan TV, an independent online media outlet based in Berlin that provides alternative news coverage of Azerbaijan. Meydan TV is being investigated for alleged illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, and abuse of power. Fifteen journalists have been specifically named in the investigation, many of whom remain in the country, now under travel bans, and face the very real threat of imprisonment. Meydan TV’s staff based abroad have also been targeted through threats and extensive pressure on their relatives, including job dismissal and politically motivated detention.
“A diverse and pluralistic media is a hallmark of a democratic and progressive state. The renewed crackdown on Meydan TV, alongside repression of other critical media outlets, demonstrates the Azerbaijani government’s unwillingness to tolerate any criticism and a total failure to commit to systemic and genuine reforms that would enable freedom of expression for all”, said Thomas Hughes, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19.
All of this occurs against the backdrop of a broader crackdown on freedom of expression and other human rights in Azerbaijan. Other independent media and NGOs working to promote free expression have been targeted in recent years, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Baku bureau and the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety. The state completely dominates the broadcast media, and one of the few remaining critical newspapers, Azadliq, has been forced to suspend publication of its print edition and teeters on the brink of closure. Violent attacks against journalists – including murders – are committed with impunity, resulting in a climate of fear for the independent media.
The Sport for Rights coalition calls for the Azerbaijani authorities to take immediate and concrete steps to cease this persecution of the independent media, starting with the unconditional release of Khadija Ismayilova and Azerbaijan’s other political prisoners. Sport for Rights also calls for sustained international attention to the broader human rights crackdown in the country, especially in the run-up to the Formula One European Grand Prix, which will take place in Baku from 17 to 19 June. The Azerbaijani government must be held accountable for its international human rights obligations.
“Meydan TV and its staff have been ruthlessly targeted by Azerbaijani authorities. The charges invoked against Meydan TV are of similar nature to the charges that were used to send journalists and government critics to prison,” said Index senior advocacy officer Melody Patry. “This investigation confirms the government has no intention of changing its approach toward independent media and free expression in the country.”
Meydan TV reported today that Azerbaijani authorities launched a criminal probe against them for “alleged illegal practice and profit-making in an especially large amount, large-scale tax evasion and abuse of power resulting in falsification of elections and/or referendum results”.
The case against Meydan TV’s executives was filed by the General Prosecutor Office of Grave Crimes Investigation Department.
Harassment of Meydan TV and its journalists is not new. Meydan TV staff and their relatives have been facing extensive pressure ranging from threats to detention. 2013 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award-winning newspaper Azadliq was forced to stop printing and has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy as well.
Hebib Müntezir is an Azerbaijani blogger andsocial media manager of the non-profit Meydan TV. Müntezir is one of Azerbaijan’s most famous online activists, and in a country where social media is the final platform on which journalists are able to report, his influence has made him a significant annoyance to the Azerbaijani authorities. His YouTube videos have now been watched upwards of 27 million times, and his Facebook page is followed by over 22,000 people.
The organisation Müntezir has aligned forces with, Meydan TV, launched in 2013, and is one of the few news sites critical of the Azerbaijani government and its policies. The site is published in Azerbaijani, English, and Russian.
2015 saw a huge media crackdown in Azerbaijan, with government critics sentenced to long prison terms, and journalists facing harassment and prosecution. The crackdown intensified when Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, hosted the first European Games – at a significant economic cost to a country already suffering from plummeting oil prices. The clampdown by the ruling New Azerbaijan party, re-elected in 2015 to serve another five years on their 20-year-run, showed their nervousness about the Games, and the international scrutiny that came with them.
With little coverage by traditional media, Azerbaijanis looked online for information, says Müntezir. “During the European Games in Baku in June 2015, our social media content reached over 1.5 million people in a population of less than 10 million,” Müntezir told Index.
Meydan TV’s powerful online presence and outspoken journalists have made them repeated targets during the authorities’ crackdown.
On 16 September 2015, freelance Meydan TV reporter Aytaj Ahmadova and a Meydan TV intern were stopped by police and taken to the organised crime unit. They were released after several hours in which Ahmadova says she was threatened and told to stop doing “opposition work”.
The same day a former Meydan employee Aysel Umudova was summoned by the prosecution service and questioned about her past work.
Then a couple of days later, Shirin Abbasov, a reporter for Meydan, was imprisoned, and authorities searched the home of another Meydan reporter.
The following day three Meydan journalists were detained after flying into Baku airport and questioned for several hours about Meydan. They were summoned by police again on 22 September and told off for speaking to the press after their earlier detention.
Emin Milli, Meydan’s director who is living in exile,told the media that Azerbaijani authorities had also threatened to punish him. According Milli, a threatening note allegedly sent by Azerbaijan’s sports minister read: “We will get you wherever you are and the state will punish you for this smear-campaign against the state that you have organized. You will get punished for this. You will not be able to walk freely in Berlin or anywhere else.”
During this crackdown, social media has been hailed as the only way journalists can freely report on otherwise censored issues in Azerbaijan. “Our social media strategy has been the driving force of our success in terms of audience outreach and engagement,” said Milli.
“Many people in Azerbaijan are afraid to talk to independent media,” said Müntezir. “But citizens still reach out to me to share content and offer support.”
The Sport for Rights Coalition condemns the Azerbaijani authorities’ extensive pressure against the staff of independent online television station Meydan TV, as part of a wider unprecedented crackdown on free expression and independent media. Following months of increased pressure in the aftermath of the European Games and the run-up to the 1 November parliamentary elections, on 17 September, Meydan TV reporter Shirin Abbasov was sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention for “disobeying police”. On 18 September, authorities searched the flat of another Meydan TV reporter, Javid Abdullayev, in connection with the case against Abbasov, seizing computers and cameras – indicating more serious charges might be forthcoming.
Abbasov, a 19 year-old freelance journalist and Meydan TV contributor, went missing on his way to university early the afternoon of 16 September, and his whereabouts were unknown for nearly 30 hours. Authorities eventually disclosed that Abbasov was being held at the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ notorious Department to Combat Organised Crime. Abbasov has so far been prevented from seeing his lawyer, who fears that Abbasov may be under pressure to sign a false confession.
“The arrest of Shirin Abbasov is yet another act by the authorities aimed at silencing independent voices in Azerbaijan”, said IMS Executive Director Jesper Højberg. “Locking up government critics and stepping up pressure on the country’s few remaining independent media outlets and NGOs has had disastrous consequences for Azerbaijan’s international relations, and certainly does not bode well for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The Azerbaijani government must take action now to put a stop to this downward spiral”.
Prior to his arrest, Abbasov was one of four Meydan TV staff prevented from leaving Azerbaijan after the conclusion of the European Games in June, told they were placed on a “blacklist” for unclear reasons. More recently, he covered the trials of human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus, and journalist Khadija Ismayilova, capturing some of the only images of the political prisoners that were used in the press. Abbasov is also a popular video blogger, whose Facebook posts critical of the government have drawn widespread attention. He was one of six Meydan TV staff previously questioned over Meydan TV’s coverage of protests in the city of Mingechevir calling for the resignation of the local police chief following the 20 August death of a man in policy custody.
Also on 16 September, another young freelance journalist and Meydan TV contributor, Aytaj Ahmadova, was detained along with a friend and questioned for five hours by employees of the same Department to Combat Organised Crime, before being released. She reported that similarly to her colleagues, questions were focused on the Mingechevir protests, as well as Meydan TV’s activities, and its management and salary structure. Ahmadova’s parents have reportedly been fired from their jobs and threatened with arrest.
“The extensive questioning of Meydan TV’s staff in connection with the Mingechevir protests bears similar hallmarks to the cases built against journalist Tofig Yagublu and opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov – both of whom remain imprisoned on spurious charges connected with the 2013 protests in Ismayilli”, stated Thomas Hughes, ARTICLE 19’s Executive Director. “The Azerbaijani government should immediately cease its persecution of journalists working with Meydan TV, as well as any others legitimately expressing critical or independent viewpoints. Azerbaijan’s current actions, following a year of persistent crackdown down on freedom of expression, are in direct violation of its international obligations”.
In June, Meydan TV Director Emin Milli reported that he had received a threat from the Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sport, Azad Rahimov, in connection with Meydan TV’s critical reporting on the European Games. In July, 23 of his relatives signed a letter to Azerbaijani President Aliyev stating that they did not support Milli’s “anti-Azerbaijani policy” and had excluded him from the family for his “betrayal of Azerbaijan”. Meydan TV editor and popular writer Gunel Movlud also reported that her relatives have faced pressure in connection with her work; so far at least four have been fired from their jobs.
The growing pressure against the staff of Meydan TV takes place against a broader unprecedented crackdown on free expression and the independent media. In addition to Abbasov, there are eight journalists behind bars in Azerbaijan, as well as six human rights defenders who are strong free expression advocates, along with dozens of other political prisoners, many of whom were targeted for expressing critical opinions.
For more than a year, the staff of media freedom NGO the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) – where detained journalist Shirin Abbasov worked prior to Meydan TV – has faced tremendous pressure, culminating with the murder of IRFS Chairman Rasim Aliyev, who died in hospital on 9 August after being severely beaten the day before. The attack on Aliyev took place one year from the date authorities had raided and closed the office of IRFS and its online TV project, Obyektiv TV, which were forced to cease operations.
That same day, 8 August 2014, IRFS Director Emin Huseynov was forced into hiding, and was soon after granted refuge at the Swiss Embassy in Baku, where he remained for 10 months until he was finally allowed out of the country, but stripped of his Azerbaijani citizenship. Huseynov remains in exile abroad as a stateless person. His brother Mehman Huseynov, a well-known photojournalist and blogger, was detained earlier this month when he tried to obtain a replacement ID card as authorities had seized his in connection with a politically motivated criminal case against him from 2012. He has been prevented from leaving the country since June 2013. In January this year, IRFS deputy head Gunay Ismayilova was attacked outside her apartment in Baku.
Other independent media that have been facing extensive pressure include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)’s Baku bureau, which was raided and closed by authorities in December 2014, shortly after the arrest of its former bureau chief and prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was sentenced on 1 September to 7.5 years in prison on spurious charges. Opposition Azadliq newspaper once again teeters on the brink of closure after years of excessive fines from defamation cases filed by public officials and their supporters, and other financial pressures. ‘Azerbaycan saati’ (Azerbaijan Hour), an opposition-minded online television station, has also faced extensive pressure, including the arrest of its presenter Seymur Hezi, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence on spurious charges.
The Sport for Rights coalition condemns these acts aimed at silencing independent voices in Azerbaijan and punishing those who were critical in the run-up to the European Games. Sport for Rights believes that the pressure against Meydan TV is directly connected to its critical coverage of the European Games. Sport for Rights also notes that Meydan TV and the other organisations and individuals being targeted have all played an important role in exposing corruption and human rights abuses — which has become downright dangerous in Azerbaijan.
Sport for Rights calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Shirin Abbasov, as well as the other jailed journalists and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan. Sport for Rights also calls for the Azerbaijani authorities to put a stop to all acts of persecution of Meydan TV’s staff and other journalists and human rights defenders, and to take urgent steps to address the broader human rights crisis in the country ahead of the 1 November parliamentary elections.
Supporting organisations:
ARTICLE 19
Civil Rights Defenders
Committee to Protect Journalists
Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF)
Index on Censorship
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
International Media Support (IMS)
International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
PEN American Center
People in Need
Platform
Polish Green Network
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
