(IPI/IFEX) – In a 17 October 2003 letter to President Elect Ilham Aliyev and Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, IPI expressed deep concern about the press freedom situation in Azerbaijan and the appalling violence against journalists that took place during the 15 October presidential elections. According to information provided to IPI, on the night of 15 […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 17 October 2003 letter to President Elect Ilham Aliyev and Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, IPI expressed deep concern about the press freedom situation in Azerbaijan and the appalling violence against journalists that took place during the 15 October presidential elections.
According to information provided to IPI, on the night of 15 October, a journalist from the Baku based “Avrora” weekly, Azer Qarachenli, was kidnapped in front of his Musavat headquarters by masked men. His brother, the editor-in-chief of the weekly “Fekhri Ugurlu”, inquired about him at a number of police organisations on 16 October, but was told that Qarachenli had neither been arrested nor detained. Contradicting these statements, TV channels at the time showed Qarachenli being taken by special police forces wearing black masks.
Furthermore, IPI is concerned about the wave of violence against those members of the media who were covering the results of the presidential election. On the basis of information given to IPI, a number of local and foreign journalists were detained by the police or beaten by the security forces during an opposition demonstration in Baku.
Among those beaten were Sahil Kerimli, a journalist for the Lider television channel, who was attacked on the night of 15 October; Zafar Guliyev, from the TURAN agency, who sustained a head injury; Emin Huseynov, also from the TURAN agency, who was taken unconscious to the intensive care department suffering from concussion; and Ilkin Guliyev, from the TURAN agency, who sustained a head injury. All three were severely beaten by soldiers despite the journalists showing their press passes.
In addition, Fuad Hasanguliyev, from Interfax-Azerbaijan, was hospitalised with a head injury; Sabina Iskenderli, from Interfax-Azerbaijan, sustained various injuries; and Agil Jamal and Hayal Babayev, from the “Azadlig” newspaper, were beaten with clubs. Also during the demonstration, Azer Hasret, secretary general of the Azerbaijan Journalists Confederation, and director of IPI’s Azerbaijan National Committee, was beaten (1).
IPI considers these attacks to be not only a scandalous assault on journalists carrying out their professional duty but also an attack on press freedom in Azerbaijan.
Notes:
1. Many more journalists were beaten during the attack. For a complete list of those journalists injured, please see the IPI Web site at: www.freemedia.at.
