(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 May 2003, RSF strongly protested against official harassment of the opposition media, including four newspapers accused of publishing “unethical” articles about President Heidar Aliev. The organisation said it feared legal harassment and physical attacks on journalists and the media would increase in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for October. On […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 May 2003, RSF strongly protested against official harassment of the opposition media, including four newspapers accused of publishing “unethical” articles about President Heidar Aliev. The organisation said it feared legal harassment and physical attacks on journalists and the media would increase in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for October.
On 7 May, the State Prosecutor’s Office warned the newspapers “Yeni Musavat”, “Hurriyet”, “Azadliq” and “Milliyet” that they had violated the press law by publishing the contentious articles. Also on 7 May, police refused to investigate the 4 May attack on “Yeni Musavat” staff, in which several journalists were injured.
“So far, the opposition press has mainly been a target of systematic legal harassment aimed at bankrupting it, with ‘Yeni Musavat’ facing as many as 14 libel cases,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard noted in a letter to Interior Minister Ramil Usubov. “But the latest warning, which comes just two days after the attack on the paper, and the police’s refusal to investigate, is much more serious. We ask you to open an inquiry into the attack and see to it that all harassment of the opposition press ceases,” Ménard added.
A mob of about 30 men attacked the offices of “Yeni Musavat” on the evening of 4 May, threatening to kill editor-in-chief Rauf Arifoglu, who was not present at the time, and causing extensive damage. Assistant editor Gabil Abbasoglu and journalists Elshad Pashasoy, Samir Azizoglu and Khalid Kazimli were injured in the atack. One journalist called police, who later arrested four individuals, but none of the suspects were charged.
The attackers told the journalists to stop writing about President Aliev’s precarious health and to stop criticising the authorities. Arifoglu said police protection of the office, which had begun three days earlier, was withdrawn two hours before the attack. The journalists had anticipated the attack and asked for a police guard. The move came after government officials called for the paper to be “punished” after articles appeared in the government press accusing “Yeni Musavat” of being an “enemy of the nation” for having called on Aliev to resign for health reasons.
On 2 May, police seized 1,800 copies of the paper’s Russian-language edition at the Viza-Media printing house in Baku and arrested four journalists, including Azer Aykhan, Firdovsi Akhmedov and Sayyad Gadirli. The head of the printing house, Aliovst Talishkhanly, and two other employees were also arrested for publishing “anti-government” material.
Since 21 April, the authorities have also been harassing firms that distribute newspapers in the Baku subway. Sakit Hasanli, head of the organisation Press Development Aid, said subway officials have refused to sign a new three-month distribution contract with the Said and Mars-3 companies unless the distribution of opposition newspapers, including “Azadliq”, “Yeni Musavat”, “Hurriyet” and “Milliyet”, is suspended.
