CPJ urges Azerbaijan to end persecution of imprisoned editor
New York, June 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on Azerbaijani authorities to release an editor imprisoned on libel charges who says he has been denied food and water, and has received death threats. Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the weekly Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, told presiding…
CPJ urges Azerbaijan to investigate assaults
Dear Mr. Qaralov, The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly protests the failure of Azerbaijani prosecutors to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the brazen assaults against Azadlyg reporter Agil Khalil. In the last three months, Khalil has been beaten, stabbed, and pushed onto train tracks. He has also escaped a kidnapping attempt. Yet despite abundant evidence as to who committed the crimes, there has been no progress in these cases.
In Azerbaijan, new charge filed against imprisoned editor
New York, May 22, 2007—Azerbaijani authorities have filed a terrorism charge against Eynulla Fatullayev, the imprisoned editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, in the latest government action against the journalist and his publications. Fatullayev, a persistent government critic, is already in prison on a specious defamation charge…
Azerbaijani newspapers evicted, editor threatened
New York, May 21, 2007—Local authorities evicted the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan from their Baku offices on Sunday night, saying that the publications’ building violates safety regulations. The action comes amid a series of threats, attacks, and cases of harassment targeting the muckraking newspapers—including, most recently, an anonymous…
In Azerbaijan, two journalists jailed for defaming president’s uncle
New York, May 16, 2007—A court in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, sentenced two journalists to 30 months in prison apiece today on charges of defaming President Ilham Aliyev’s uncle. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the verdict to be overturned on appeal, for the journalists to be freed in the meantime, and for the…
Journalists jailed for inciting religious hatred
New York, May 4, 2007—A court in Azerbaijan jailed two independent journalists today over an article that said Islam was hampering economic and political progress. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which this week named Azerbaijan as one of the top 10 countries where press freedom has deteriorated, condemned the conviction. Reporter Rafiq Tagi and editor…
Backsliders: The 10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated
New York, May 2, 2007–Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are among the places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia, where the government launched a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers and jailing editors,…
Editor brutally beaten after colleague’s trial
New York, April 24, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brutal attack on Uzeyir Jafarov, an editor and reporter for the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, in the capital, Baku. Two unidentified men beat Jafarov as he was leaving the newspaper’s office Friday night, according to the journalist and international press reports. Earlier that day,…
In Azerbaijan, embattled editor jailed for libel and insult
New York, April 20, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s imprisonment in Baku of Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan. The Yasamal District Court convicted Fatullayev on charges of libeling and insulting Azerbaijanis in an Internet posting that was attributed to the editor. But…