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RADIO STATION BACKED BY U.S. IS RAIDED IN AZERBAIJAN
The New York Times
Dec 29 2014
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNDEC. 28, 2014
MOSCOW -- A dozen employees of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in
Azerbaijan were arrested and detained for up to 12 hours of questioning
over the weekend, as state prosecutors intensified a crackdown on
journalists and nongovernmental organizations that has drawn sharp
criticism in the West.
On Friday, prosecutors and the police raided the station's office
in Baku, the nation's capital. Employees were detained as officials
seized computers, flash drives, documents and other materials, and
then sealed the premises.
The station, locally called Radio Azadliq, which means "liberty" in
Azerbaijani, has been a target of the authorities for years. Its FM
broadcast was shut down along with the BBC radio service and the Voice
of America in 2009 (the broadcasts can still be heard on satellite
and over the Internet).
This month, the government jailed a well-known investigative reporter,
Khadija Ismayilova, who had worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
as well as other news organizations.
Ms. Ismayilova, who remains in custody, had angered high-level
officials by reporting on the business dealings of the family of
President Ilham Aliyev.
On Saturday night, the authorities began arresting employees of
the radio station, in some cases taking them from their homes, said
Kenan Aliyev, the director of the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, who is based in Prague.
Kamran Mahmudov, the anchor of a daily news talk show called "After
Work," was taken to the prosecutor's office in his pajamas, said Mr.
Aliyev of the radio service. On Sunday morning, officials even
detained the station's cleaning woman. All the employees were released,
though more were expected to be questioned on Monday. No charges had
been filed.
"The prosecutors are terrorizing our staff," Mr. Aliyev said. "Azadliq
is the last island of free speech in Azerbaijan and now it is under
frontal assault."
The government has accused the station and its employees of espionage
and of being a foreign-financed entity. On the last point, there
is no debate. Radio Free Europe has been financed by the American
government since it was founded in 1953, during the Cold War; the
Baku station opened in the 1990s.
Supporters of President Aliyev have warned that foreign-backed
organizations could be plotting a revolution in Baku, modeled after
the Arab Spring, or the mass street protests in Ukraine that toppled
that country's president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, in February.
The Azerbaijani government has also accused some nongovernmental
organizations and local activists of collaborating with Armenia,
the neighbor with which it has been at war for more than 20 years
over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian
lobby should be searched," Siyavoush Novrusov, an official with the
governing Yeni Azerbaijan party, told a local news site, Media Forum.
Even as Azerbaijan has tried to silence dissenters, the small, oil-rich
nation has aggressively courted favor in Europe in recent years. It
is spending billions, for instance, as the host of the first-ever
European Games, which are scheduled to be held in Baku in June.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/world/middleeast/radio-station-backed-by-us-is-raided-in-azerbaijan.html
The New York Times
Dec 29 2014
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNDEC. 28, 2014
MOSCOW -- A dozen employees of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in
Azerbaijan were arrested and detained for up to 12 hours of questioning
over the weekend, as state prosecutors intensified a crackdown on
journalists and nongovernmental organizations that has drawn sharp
criticism in the West.
On Friday, prosecutors and the police raided the station's office
in Baku, the nation's capital. Employees were detained as officials
seized computers, flash drives, documents and other materials, and
then sealed the premises.
The station, locally called Radio Azadliq, which means "liberty" in
Azerbaijani, has been a target of the authorities for years. Its FM
broadcast was shut down along with the BBC radio service and the Voice
of America in 2009 (the broadcasts can still be heard on satellite
and over the Internet).
This month, the government jailed a well-known investigative reporter,
Khadija Ismayilova, who had worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
as well as other news organizations.
Ms. Ismayilova, who remains in custody, had angered high-level
officials by reporting on the business dealings of the family of
President Ilham Aliyev.
On Saturday night, the authorities began arresting employees of
the radio station, in some cases taking them from their homes, said
Kenan Aliyev, the director of the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, who is based in Prague.
Kamran Mahmudov, the anchor of a daily news talk show called "After
Work," was taken to the prosecutor's office in his pajamas, said Mr.
Aliyev of the radio service. On Sunday morning, officials even
detained the station's cleaning woman. All the employees were released,
though more were expected to be questioned on Monday. No charges had
been filed.
"The prosecutors are terrorizing our staff," Mr. Aliyev said. "Azadliq
is the last island of free speech in Azerbaijan and now it is under
frontal assault."
The government has accused the station and its employees of espionage
and of being a foreign-financed entity. On the last point, there
is no debate. Radio Free Europe has been financed by the American
government since it was founded in 1953, during the Cold War; the
Baku station opened in the 1990s.
Supporters of President Aliyev have warned that foreign-backed
organizations could be plotting a revolution in Baku, modeled after
the Arab Spring, or the mass street protests in Ukraine that toppled
that country's president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, in February.
The Azerbaijani government has also accused some nongovernmental
organizations and local activists of collaborating with Armenia,
the neighbor with which it has been at war for more than 20 years
over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian
lobby should be searched," Siyavoush Novrusov, an official with the
governing Yeni Azerbaijan party, told a local news site, Media Forum.
Even as Azerbaijan has tried to silence dissenters, the small, oil-rich
nation has aggressively courted favor in Europe in recent years. It
is spending billions, for instance, as the host of the first-ever
European Games, which are scheduled to be held in Baku in June.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/29/world/middleeast/radio-station-backed-by-us-is-raided-in-azerbaijan.html