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CPJ BLASTS AZERBAIJAN OVER TRAMPLING PRESS FREEDOM, BLACKLIST
February 14, 2014 - 15:12 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) released
its annual Attacks on the Press report, slamming Azerbaijan for
oppressing journalists and blacklisting visitors to the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic.
"As Azerbaijan prepared to assume the 2014 chairmanship of the Council
of Europe--the largest European intergovernmental human rights and
democracy organization--the authoritarian regime of President Ilham
Aliyev shamelessly trampled on press freedom at home. The authorities
continued to stifle critical voices, target free expression on the Web,
and sentence reporters to lengthy prison terms. A local journalist
was barred from leaving the country to pick up his journalism prize
in Norway, while dozens of foreign media personnel were declared
persona non grata in Azerbaijan," the Committee notes in the report.
"The harassment, including by the government-affiliated press, of
investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova went unpunished. Aliyev
extended criminal defamation laws to the Internet and tightened
funding restrictions for domestic NGOs, including press freedom
organizations, despite a domestic and international outcry. In June,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso offered Aliyev
public support instead of holding the leader responsible for human
rights and press freedom violations in his country. In October,
the authoritarian leader was re-elected to his third term after
the Central Elections Commission denied registration to opposition
candidate Rustam Ibragimbekov," the report said.
"After a June travel ban on photojournalist Mehman Huseynov, which
prevented him from accepting an international journalism award
in Norway, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry issued a list of foreign
nationals--among them 67 journalists and media workers--who are barred
from entering the country," the report stressed.
On August 2, Azeri Foreign Ministry published the notorious blacklist,
which includes Slovak politician FrantiÅ~_ek MikloÅ~_ko, Argentinean
parliamentarian Jose Arbo, Russian expert Andrey Areshev, Baroness
Caroline Cox, opera star Montserrat Caballé and many other famous
personalities.
http://www.cpj.org/ru/2014/02/-2013-7.php
February 14, 2014 - 15:12 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) released
its annual Attacks on the Press report, slamming Azerbaijan for
oppressing journalists and blacklisting visitors to the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic.
"As Azerbaijan prepared to assume the 2014 chairmanship of the Council
of Europe--the largest European intergovernmental human rights and
democracy organization--the authoritarian regime of President Ilham
Aliyev shamelessly trampled on press freedom at home. The authorities
continued to stifle critical voices, target free expression on the Web,
and sentence reporters to lengthy prison terms. A local journalist
was barred from leaving the country to pick up his journalism prize
in Norway, while dozens of foreign media personnel were declared
persona non grata in Azerbaijan," the Committee notes in the report.
"The harassment, including by the government-affiliated press, of
investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova went unpunished. Aliyev
extended criminal defamation laws to the Internet and tightened
funding restrictions for domestic NGOs, including press freedom
organizations, despite a domestic and international outcry. In June,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso offered Aliyev
public support instead of holding the leader responsible for human
rights and press freedom violations in his country. In October,
the authoritarian leader was re-elected to his third term after
the Central Elections Commission denied registration to opposition
candidate Rustam Ibragimbekov," the report said.
"After a June travel ban on photojournalist Mehman Huseynov, which
prevented him from accepting an international journalism award
in Norway, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry issued a list of foreign
nationals--among them 67 journalists and media workers--who are barred
from entering the country," the report stressed.
On August 2, Azeri Foreign Ministry published the notorious blacklist,
which includes Slovak politician FrantiÅ~_ek MikloÅ~_ko, Argentinean
parliamentarian Jose Arbo, Russian expert Andrey Areshev, Baroness
Caroline Cox, opera star Montserrat Caballé and many other famous
personalities.
http://www.cpj.org/ru/2014/02/-2013-7.php