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REPRESSION IN AZERBAIJAN: NO PRIZE FOR LEYLA YUNUS
The Economist
Oct 22 2014
LEYLA YUNUS did not win the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought this year--it went to Denis Mukwege, a
Congolese gynecologist who has battled sexual violence against
women--but she was one of the three finalists. That gives me an
excuse to write about her, and to put it bluntly, she needs the
attention. Ms Yunus is one of Azerbaijan's leading civil society
activists, known among other things for documenting the government's
forced evacuations of Baku residents to make way for gleaming new
oil-financed real-estate developments. Since July 30 she has been
in jail, accused by prosecutors of the fanciful-sounding charge of
spying for Armenia. Her real offence appears to have been angering
the government of president Ilham Aliev.
During a visit to Brussels early this year, Mr Aliev claimed that
his country had no political prisoners. Ms Yunus and fellow activist
Rasul Jafarov responded by publishing a list of such prisoners on
the internet, which (as of its last update in early July) totaled
109 names, including one of Mr Aliev's chief political rivals. (This
may help explain why Mr Aliev won re-election last year with 85%
of the vote, without running a campaign.) As a result of their
activities, Ms Yunus and Mr Jafarov are now eligible to be included
on their own list of political prisoners. (Mr Jafarov was arrested
on August 2.) Meanwhile, this spring, Ms Yunus launched a citizen
diplomacy initiative, inviting Azerbaijanis and Armenians to talk
about how to end their countries' 25-year-long frozen conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. That initiative is the basis of the government's
treason accusations, which international human rights organisations
term absurd. Other Azerbaijani civil society groups have faced an
intensifying crackdown in recent months.
"I think the Azerbaijan government took advantage of the world's
attention being focused on Ukraine and on Ebola, so they decided to
cut off the last voices of civil society," says Ms Yunus's daughter
Dinara. Dinara, who was granted political asylum in the Netherlands
five years ago, says her mother was transferred from a regular prison
to an isolated Security Ministry detention centre on October 20. Her
father, the historian Arif Yunus, is held at the same facility, after
being arrested August 5. He has been charged with treason, as well.
Both elder Yunuses suffer from medical conditions, and Leyla Yunus
has told her lawyer of being beaten, both by prison guards and by a
cellmate. Dinara says she is unsure whether her parents are receiving
their medications in the Security Ministry prison; she has not been
able to communicate with them.
Even as it tightens the screws on the opposition and civil society,
Azerbaijan remains a member in good standing of the Council of Europe,
and indeed currently holds that group's rotating presidency. The
Council (a 47-member advisory body with no enforcement powers, not
to be confused with the European Union) has yet to intercede on Ms
Yunus's behalf. The European Parliament's human rights committee,
which awards the Sakharov prize, says it will send a delegation to
Azerbaijan to meet with Ms Yunus and "support [her] in her fight for
democracy and freedom in her country."
Mr Aliev may not take much notice of that delegation. Azerbaijan has
grown fantastically wealthy on oil revenues over the past 25 years.
The international petroleum majors who extract 80% of the country's
oil, including BP, might carry more weight in Baku, and Ms Yunus's
family have called on BP to pressure the government to release her.
Dinara Yunus is unsure what tactics would help get her mother released,
but she is convinced that gentle suasion will not.
"Governments like to go with silent diplomacy, but as we see, it only
makes things worse," she says. "If someone speaks out loudly at a high
level, a president or prime minister, maybe it will change something."
It seems worth a shot.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/10/repression-azerbaijan
The Economist
Oct 22 2014
LEYLA YUNUS did not win the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought this year--it went to Denis Mukwege, a
Congolese gynecologist who has battled sexual violence against
women--but she was one of the three finalists. That gives me an
excuse to write about her, and to put it bluntly, she needs the
attention. Ms Yunus is one of Azerbaijan's leading civil society
activists, known among other things for documenting the government's
forced evacuations of Baku residents to make way for gleaming new
oil-financed real-estate developments. Since July 30 she has been
in jail, accused by prosecutors of the fanciful-sounding charge of
spying for Armenia. Her real offence appears to have been angering
the government of president Ilham Aliev.
During a visit to Brussels early this year, Mr Aliev claimed that
his country had no political prisoners. Ms Yunus and fellow activist
Rasul Jafarov responded by publishing a list of such prisoners on
the internet, which (as of its last update in early July) totaled
109 names, including one of Mr Aliev's chief political rivals. (This
may help explain why Mr Aliev won re-election last year with 85%
of the vote, without running a campaign.) As a result of their
activities, Ms Yunus and Mr Jafarov are now eligible to be included
on their own list of political prisoners. (Mr Jafarov was arrested
on August 2.) Meanwhile, this spring, Ms Yunus launched a citizen
diplomacy initiative, inviting Azerbaijanis and Armenians to talk
about how to end their countries' 25-year-long frozen conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. That initiative is the basis of the government's
treason accusations, which international human rights organisations
term absurd. Other Azerbaijani civil society groups have faced an
intensifying crackdown in recent months.
"I think the Azerbaijan government took advantage of the world's
attention being focused on Ukraine and on Ebola, so they decided to
cut off the last voices of civil society," says Ms Yunus's daughter
Dinara. Dinara, who was granted political asylum in the Netherlands
five years ago, says her mother was transferred from a regular prison
to an isolated Security Ministry detention centre on October 20. Her
father, the historian Arif Yunus, is held at the same facility, after
being arrested August 5. He has been charged with treason, as well.
Both elder Yunuses suffer from medical conditions, and Leyla Yunus
has told her lawyer of being beaten, both by prison guards and by a
cellmate. Dinara says she is unsure whether her parents are receiving
their medications in the Security Ministry prison; she has not been
able to communicate with them.
Even as it tightens the screws on the opposition and civil society,
Azerbaijan remains a member in good standing of the Council of Europe,
and indeed currently holds that group's rotating presidency. The
Council (a 47-member advisory body with no enforcement powers, not
to be confused with the European Union) has yet to intercede on Ms
Yunus's behalf. The European Parliament's human rights committee,
which awards the Sakharov prize, says it will send a delegation to
Azerbaijan to meet with Ms Yunus and "support [her] in her fight for
democracy and freedom in her country."
Mr Aliev may not take much notice of that delegation. Azerbaijan has
grown fantastically wealthy on oil revenues over the past 25 years.
The international petroleum majors who extract 80% of the country's
oil, including BP, might carry more weight in Baku, and Ms Yunus's
family have called on BP to pressure the government to release her.
Dinara Yunus is unsure what tactics would help get her mother released,
but she is convinced that gentle suasion will not.
"Governments like to go with silent diplomacy, but as we see, it only
makes things worse," she says. "If someone speaks out loudly at a high
level, a president or prime minister, maybe it will change something."
It seems worth a shot.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/10/repression-azerbaijan