Journalists in prison, 2004
Around the world, 122 journalists were in prison at the end of 2004 for practicing their profession, 16 fewer than the year before. International advocacy campaigns, including those waged by the Committee to Protect Journalists, helped win the early release of a number of imprisoned journalists, notably six independent writers and reporters in Cuba.
CPJ condemns politicized conviction of editor
New York, October 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the conviction and five-year prison sentence handed down to Yeni Musavat Editor Rauf Arifoglu, who was swept up in a crackdown against the opposition press following last year’s tainted presidential election “The politicized conviction of Rauf Arifoglu is yet another government attack against press…
COURT CLOSES CRIMINAL DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST JOURNALIST AFTER LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY
New York, July 1, 2004—Bowing to international pressure, the mayor of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, has dropped criminal charges against a journalist who had criticized his administration. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the decision, but calls on the government to scrap its criminal defamation law entirely.
CPJ CALLS ON AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT TO END REPRESSIVE MEDIA POLICIES
Baku, June 18, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today held a press conference in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to call on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to end his government’s repression of independent and opposition media. In Baku, CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper, Europe & Central Asia Program Coordinator Alex Lupis, and Senior Editor Amanda Watson-Boles…
CPJ concerned about harassment of journalists in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
New York, June 18, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that authorities in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR)—a mountainous enclave in southwest Azerbaijan—have harassed two journalists writing about politics, economics, and social issues, including local government corruption. Melakhet Nasibova, a correspondent for the Azerbaijani news agency Turan and the Azerbaijani Service of the…
CPJ calls on Azerbaijan to allow journalist to return to country
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that Azerbaijani journalist Irada Huseynova, who lives and works in Moscow, cannot attend an international meeting of freedom of expression groups in Azerbaijan in mid-June because she faces arrest on criminal defamation charges should she return to the capital, Baku. Huseynova was invited by the Toronto-based International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which will hold its meeting in Baku beginning June 14.
Attacks on the Press 2003: Azerbaijan
In January 2003, President Heydar Aliyev froze the print media’s debts to the state publishing house through 2005. But that was the only positive development for the Azerbaijani press in what turned out to be a dismal year. With Aliyev’s health failing as 2003 wore on, he began grooming his son Ilham Aliyev to take…