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AZERI CORRESPONDENT RECEIVES THREATS TIED TO REPORTING
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3770
BAKU. November 14, 2012. Yafez Hasanov, a correspondent for RFE/RL's
Azerbaijani Service, has received telephone threats since investigating
the death last year of a man in the custody of Azerbaijan's Ministry
of National Security.
The man, Turac Zeynalov, was found dead in August 2011 in a detention
facility run by the Ministry of National Security's Naxicivan bureau,
where he had been summoned the day before and accused of spying
for Iran.
Hasanov, who has been investigating information he recently obtained
about the case, told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service that he has received
repeated telephone calls and text messages over the last four days
from unidentified persons threatening reprisals against him and his
family if he does not stop reporting. In one text he was warned,
"you'll end up like Zeynalov." In one phone call he was told, ~Sif
you do not stop [reporting], you~Rll be shocked by what you see.~T
Hasanov changed his phone number, but the calls continued. He has
submitted the phone numbers from which the threats came to Ramil
Usubov, Azerbaijan's Interior Minister, for investigation.
Hasanov, a free-lancer based in Naxichivan, an Azeri exclave, was
kidnapped last year after first reporting on the case. Following a
meeting with the family to investigate the circumstances of Zeynalov's
death, he was stopped on the street by several unknown men and pulled
into an unmarked car. He was told not to report about the case,
and warned that to do so could lead to "embarrassment." Hasanov was
driven to a customs office on the Iranian border where he was left
to return to Baku via Iran. He was warned not to return to Naxcivan
for a month or "it would cost him."
The Azeri government has not responded to calls by RFE/RL and other
organizations to investigate the incident.
Azerbaijan's Human Rights Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova requested in
September last year that the Prosecutor-General and National Security
Minister investigate Zeynalov's death.
Hasanov has reported for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq,
since 2010. (RFE/RL)
From: Baghdasarian
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3770
BAKU. November 14, 2012. Yafez Hasanov, a correspondent for RFE/RL's
Azerbaijani Service, has received telephone threats since investigating
the death last year of a man in the custody of Azerbaijan's Ministry
of National Security.
The man, Turac Zeynalov, was found dead in August 2011 in a detention
facility run by the Ministry of National Security's Naxicivan bureau,
where he had been summoned the day before and accused of spying
for Iran.
Hasanov, who has been investigating information he recently obtained
about the case, told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service that he has received
repeated telephone calls and text messages over the last four days
from unidentified persons threatening reprisals against him and his
family if he does not stop reporting. In one text he was warned,
"you'll end up like Zeynalov." In one phone call he was told, ~Sif
you do not stop [reporting], you~Rll be shocked by what you see.~T
Hasanov changed his phone number, but the calls continued. He has
submitted the phone numbers from which the threats came to Ramil
Usubov, Azerbaijan's Interior Minister, for investigation.
Hasanov, a free-lancer based in Naxichivan, an Azeri exclave, was
kidnapped last year after first reporting on the case. Following a
meeting with the family to investigate the circumstances of Zeynalov's
death, he was stopped on the street by several unknown men and pulled
into an unmarked car. He was told not to report about the case,
and warned that to do so could lead to "embarrassment." Hasanov was
driven to a customs office on the Iranian border where he was left
to return to Baku via Iran. He was warned not to return to Naxcivan
for a month or "it would cost him."
The Azeri government has not responded to calls by RFE/RL and other
organizations to investigate the incident.
Azerbaijan's Human Rights Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova requested in
September last year that the Prosecutor-General and National Security
Minister investigate Zeynalov's death.
Hasanov has reported for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq,
since 2010. (RFE/RL)
From: Baghdasarian