Human rights in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan
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Despite being a member of such bodies as the Human Rights Council and Council of Europe, several independent bodies, such as Human Rights Watch, have repeadedly criticized the Azerbaijani government for its human rights record. Among other concerns, authorities have been accused of arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions, severe beatings, torture, and forced disappearances. Despite the existence of independent news outlets, journalists who criticize the government are often severely harassed, imprisoned, and even physically assaulted. In the 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders on 25 January 2012, Azerbaijan ranked 162nd out of a total 179 nations with an overall score of 87.25. President Ilham Aliyev, inherited power from his late father Heydar Aliyev, who maintains an extensive cult of personality. Ilham Aliyev has often been criticized for failing to improve the situation of civil liberties from his father's policies. Public demonstrations against the ruling regime are not tolerated, and authorities oftentimes use violence to disperse protests. Since the Aliyev family first took charge in 1993, Azerbaijan has not had a single election deemed "free and fair" by international observers.

Corruption is considered to be endemic in all areas of Azerbaijani politics. The ruling family has aroused suspicion from various independent media outlets for their vast wealth, as evidenced by the purchasing of extensive multi-million dollar properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Electoral rights

Although Azerbaijan is nominally a representative democracy, recent elections there have widely been contested as fraudulent and 'seriously flawed.' Azerbaijani media coverage of the election is considered to be overwhelmingly biased in favor of the administration. Also, former President, Heidar Aliyev, is known to have filled the Central and Local electoral commissions with government supporters prior to various key elections since 2003 [1]. Azerbaijani non-governmental bodies were also banned from monitoring the vote. Irregular incidents such as voting chiefs running off with the ballots, ballot stuffing, multiple voting, and vote-tampering were recorded by international monitors.^{[citation needed]}

Freedom of assembly and expression of political beliefs

Up until June 2005, the Azerbaijani people did not enjoy freedom of assembly. The blanket ban on opposition gatherings was lifted after national pressure, but events leading up to parliamentary elections later that year proved this to be merely a nominal change for a very short time. The authorities denied opposition supporters the right to demonstrate or hold rallies in or near any city centres. Those attending opposition rallies that had not been sanctioned by the government were beaten and arrested in mass. Police were known to detain opposition activists, in an attempt to 'convince' them into giving up their political work. Youth movement members and opposition members were detained for conspiring to overthrow the government, a charge that has not been substantiated. After the elections not a single opposition rally was allowed.^{[citation needed]}

State-authorized violence

In Azerbaijan, torture, police abuse, and excessive use of force are rife.^{[citation needed]} Defendants are often subjected to severe beating to try to coerce a confession, although electric shock, threats of rape, and threats against members of the defendant's family are also used as torture. Torture is less prevalent in post-detention prison facilities, although former inmates have alleged that security forces beat hundreds of prisoners by forcing them to run through a gauntlet, whereby they were beaten with batons.^{[citation needed]} The government have taken no action against torture, or against officials who partake in torture; indeed, Vilayat Eyvazov, the head of the Organized Crime Unit, was named Deputy Interior Minister in 2005.

Political prisoners

International pressure has been exerted on Azerbaijan to release its number of political prisoners. Since joining the Council of Europe, the Azerbaijani government have released one hundred political prisoners, but many remain in custody, and opposition supporters continue to be detained without proof of wrongdoing. A number of Talysh national minority activists including Novruzali Mammadov, Atakhan Abilov, Alikram Hummatov are recognized as political prisoners or refugees by the international organizations.

In March 2011, opposition activists Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Jabbar Savalan were arrested after they helped to organize Arab Spring-style protests through Facebook. Both were given prison terms on unrelated charges. Their arrests were protested by the European Parliament, Human Rights Watch, and Index on Censorship. Amnesty International named both men prisoners of conscience and called for their immediate release. Jabbar Savalan was released from prison after 11 months in 26 December 2011. In April 2012, human rights and environmental activist Ogtay Gulaliyev was arrested and allegedly tortured; he was released in June.

Freedom of the media

Azerbaijan is ranked 'Not Free' by Freedom House in its annual Freedom of the Press survey with a score of 79 out of 100. The authorities use a range of measures to restrict freedom of the media within the country. Opposition and independent media outlets have their access to print-houses and distribution networks limited, or can find themselves facing defamation charges and crippling fines. Most Azerbaijanis receive their information from mainstream television, which is unswervingly pro-government. During the last few years, three journalists were killed and several prosecuted in trials described as unfair by international human rights organizations. Elmar Huseynov, editor-in-chief of the opposition weekly Monitor, was shot dead in 2005, but there has been no prosecution of his murderers. Newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for reporting on the murder of Huseynov and published other views to which the Azerbaijani government objected. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in April 2010 that Fatullayev should be released, but he remains in prison and now faces new drug charges that observers find suspicious. Human rights organizations sent a joint letter to the Council of Europe about the continued imprisonment of Eynulla Fatullayev in defiance of the ruling and also sent a joint letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev urging Fatullayev’s release.

In 2009, Bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade were arrested under the charges of hooliganism and sentenced to two years and two and a half years in prison, respectively. They were released in November 2010.

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to firmly condemn Azerbaijan for tolerating escalating press freedom violations. Nearly 100 journalists were victims of physical assault in 2003. More than 50 were attacked covering violent clashes between the security forces and demonstrators after the 2003 presidential elections. Two opposition journalists were attacked in July 2004. Aydin Guliyev, editor of the opposition daily Baki Khaber, was abducted and beaten by men that accused him of "not serving his country and Islam" and warned him to stop all journalistic work on 17 July 2004. Eynulla Fatullayev, editor-in-chief of Gundelik Azerbaijan and Realniy Azerbaijan newspapers, was beaten on the head in a Baku street on 26 July 2004. He has written many articles highly critical of the government and was accused by the Azerbaijani government of claiming that the Khojaly massacre was committed by Azerbaijanis and not Armenians, while Fatullayev himself according to a 2007 Azerbaijani media report denies that he made such claims. However in May 2011, Eynulla Fatullayev defended his 2005 comments which held Azerbaijani fighters and not Armenians responsible for the Khojaly massacre.

A number of foreign journalists have also been refused entry to Azerbaijan or have been expelled from the country for reporting unfavorably on domestic and foreign matters. In June 2011, Diana Markosian, a freelance photographer for Bloomberg Markets magazine who holds dual US-Russian citizenship, was denied entry by Azerbaijani border officials at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku on account of the fact that she was Armenian. In the same month, a journalist for the New York Times was told that he would not be issued a visa until he could explain why there was so much “negative information” about Azerbaijan in the United States. In April 2011, a Swedish TV news crew was arrested and sent back to the airport after covering a demonstration by opposition protesters.

Activists such as Sing For Democracy and Amnesty International, bought up the issues of Azerbaijan's rights as it hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, after the song Running Scared by duet Ell and Nikki won the 2011 contest (these activists described its title as ironic.)http://www.dr.dk/Salg/DRsales/Programmes/Documentary/Society_and_Social/Society_and_Social_A-L/20120524143611.htm The issues included harassment of journalists, and the organisations met with the EBU on 1 May 2012 to discuss the problems. http://www.ebu.ch/en/union/news/2012/tcm_6-74853.php

Notable imprisoned journalists

Azerbaijani authorities have imprisoned several notable journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists has stated the charges against many journalists are "fabricated" and "politicized".

Notable cases include the following:

• In August 2011, authorities imprisoned Ramin Bayramov, the editor of the Islamic news website Islam-Azeri.az. His news website has previously criticized the government of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani authorities first charged Bayramov with "activities hostile to the country" and "incitement to mass disorder." After failing to prove those charges, the authorities then charged him with drugs and weapons possession. The Azerbaijan Department of Homeland Security said it found arms and drugs in his garage, but Bayramov said those were planted there.
• Goychay blogger and activist Taleh Khasmammadov was arrested in November 2011 shortly after publishing an article accusing local police of collaborating with drug traffickers. He was later sentenced to four years' imprisonment for hooliganism, causing Amnesty International to adopt him as a prisoner of conscience.
• In February 2012, police arrested Anar Bayramli, a journalist for Iranian television, on a charge of heroin possession. The charge was described by several human rights organizations as fabricated for political reasons.

Illegal evictions

Main article: Forced evictions in Azerbaijan

According to Human Rights Watch, beginning in 2008, as part of the urban renewal campaign in Baku, thousands of homeowners were evicted from their houses in many parts of the city to make way for parks, business centres and elite residential areas. The process was engineered by the Mayoralty of Baku and was often carried out without proper warning. The compensations offered were well below the market value. The residents also felt they had few options to win a case in court if they filed a lawsuit. In some cases, demolitions continued regardless of court orders prohibition to do so. Forced evictions worsened in 2011, after Azerbaijan won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, and with it, the right to host the 2012 one. These evictions angered many people, and were well exposed in the press, after hundreds were turfed out for Crystal Hall to be built.

According to the head of the Institute of Peace and Democracy Leyla Yunus, 60,000 people were deprived of their property contrary to the Constitution of Azerbaijan between 2009 and 2012. She expressed doubts in this problem ever being solved as "mafia stands behind this whole activity." In her opinion, the number of instances of illegal property deprivation is so high that civilians cannot keep up with the record, and the process is likely to follow the model of the 1920s Soviet nationalization policy.

2011 European Parliament resolution

On 12 May 2011, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning Azerbaijani "human rights violations" and "oppression of opposition forces". The resolution mentioned concern for Eynulla Fatullayev, Jabbar Savalan, and other prisoners by name, as well as general concern for the "increasing number of incidents of harassment, attacks and violence against civil society and social network activists and journalists in Azerbaijan".

Situation in Nakhchivan

Human rights are considered exceptionally poor in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, dubbed "Azerbaijan's North Korea" by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2007. An autonomous republic under the governorship of Vasif Talibov, concerns have been raised regarding police brutality, impunity, extensive limitations on civil liberties, and corruption.

See also

• Freedom of religion in Azerbaijan
• Human rights in Asia
• Human rights in Europe

External links

• Human Rights Watch: Azerbaijan
• Azerbaijan's 2005 elections: Lost Opportunity
• U.S. State department urges Azerbaijan to produce 'credible' election result
• Azerbaijan's unfinished election
• Media still weighted against opposition
• Censorship in Azerbaijan - IFEX
• Institute for Reporters Freedom and Security
• Yuliya Aliyeva Gureyeva: "Policy Attitudes towards Women in Azerbaijan: Is Equality Part of the Agenda?" in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 21