(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned a two-week-old crackdown on the Azerbaijani press. The latest development is the 27 October 2003 arrest of Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily “Yeni Musavat”, who has been placed in custody for three months. The organisation fears that the obstacles to publishing and distributing opposition newspapers, police violence, arrests […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned a two-week-old crackdown on the Azerbaijani press. The latest development is the 27 October 2003 arrest of Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily “Yeni Musavat”, who has been placed in custody for three months.
The organisation fears that the obstacles to publishing and distributing opposition newspapers, police violence, arrests of journalists and hateful declarations about them in the government news media since the 15 October presidential election are just the beginning of a campaign to silence the opposition press for good. RSF is particularly concerned about Arifoglu’s arrest and calls on the authorities to release him immediately and put an end to the harassment of journalists.
Arifoglu, who is also vice-president of the opposition party Musavat, was summoned on the evening of 27 October to the public prosecutor’s office. After being questioned for four hours, he was taken to the Nasimi district court in Baku, which ordered him placed in custody for three months.
He is accused of organising demonstrations following the presidential election, won by Prime Minister Ilham Aliev, son of outgoing President Heidar Aliev. Both the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have questioned the validity of the elections. Arifoglu has been charged with disturbing the peace under Article 220.1 of the Criminal Code and obstructing justice under Article 315.2, and faces a prison sentence.
Arifoglu took refuge in the Norwegian embassy in Baku from 18 to 21 October, fearing arrest. He left the embassy after negotiations between western diplomats and Ilham Aliev. He had narrowly avoided arrest on 17 October. The same day, Interior Minister Ramil Usubov said Arifoglu was in no danger and no one would try to arrest him or obstruct his newspaper’s activities.
Since 16 October, police have been blocking access to the offices of “Yeni Musavat”, which are in the same building as the Musavat party. The newspaper’s journalists have been forced to work elsewhere, mainly in the offices of the newspaper “Azadliq”.
At a press conference on 26 October, Member of Parliament Omaliya Panakhova said that journalists who criticise the government should be “eliminated”. The ruling party’s newspaper, “Yeni Azerbaijan”, has for several days printed articles insulting journalists who do not support the government.
