No freedom of expression in Aliyev’s “la-la land”

 
2014 was by far the worst year in crackdowns over dissent in Azerbaijan. More government critics ended in jail than in previous years not to mention the closure of several non-governmental organizations, espionage and treason charges against country’s well-known individuals and further intimidation.
 
But for Azerbaijan’s potentate Ilham Aliyev unjust arrest of journalists, silencing of voices and intimidation against right advocates are not important — in his illusionary of Azerbaijan such things do not exist anyway. Aliyev’s Azerbaijan is a country of all freedoms – freedom of speech and assembly with no political prisoners. This Azerbaijan is full of vast opportunities for anyone eager to pursue their dreams. But that Azerbaijan does not exist.
 
The real Azerbaijan is a bleak dystopia. Far from Aliyev’s promised “la-la land” exists a country of crackdowns and intimidation where corruption is rampant and anti-government sentiments voiced too loud can land you in a lengthy prison sentence. The trials would make the writers of the theater of the absurd jealous. In a staged performance you might be sentenced to many years in jail for hooliganism you have never committed, drugs you have never used, arms you have never possessed and so on and so forth. This is the real Azerbaijan behind all that marble and neon one sees in exaggerated commercial ads about “the European charm of the Orient”.
 
Arrested by the Chair of the Council of Europe
 
Certainly, some of that illusionary charm worked its way even into the institutions like the Council of Europe. Still, some Europeans were no doubt mind boggled by Azerbaijan’s shameless attitude abroad. After all it is not every day you see a country jailing activists while chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – the bastion of human rights and freedom of expression.
 
Just a day into Azerbaijan’s chairmanship, the authorities in Baku jailed Parviz Hashimli, an editor of independent news website Moderator and reporter with Bizim Yol newspaper, who was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was accused of illegal possession and smuggling of firearms.
 
On May 26, the head of Azerbaijan’s independent election watchdog organization, Anar Mamadli was sentenced to five and a half years in jail while his deputy Bashir Suleymanli received the sentence of three and a half years. The two men were found guilty of appropriation, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, abuse of authority and service forgery. Mammadli’s organization, the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center was a staunch critic of falsified elections in Azerbaijan.
 
Also in May, blogger Abdul Adilov was sentenced to five years and six months for “drug possession”. Adilov, prior to his arrest, was administering a popular anti-government Facebook page called “Say no to sycophants”.
 
Another blogger and Facebook activist Omar Mammadov was sentenced to five years in jail also on similar charges as Adilov – drug posession. He administered two satirical Facebook pages: “AzTV excerpts” and “Named after Heydar Aliyev”, popular among opposition youth.
 
Authorities arrested the country’s most well-known human rights advocates over the summer – Leyla Yunus and Rasul Jafarov. Both Yunus and Jafarov authored the report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan which was published in August. Shortly after Leyla Yunus’ arrest, her husband, political scientist and historian Arif Yunus was also arrested and sentenced to pre-trial detention. The couple remains in prison despite international calls to release them. Both have serious health issues. Since her arrest, Leyla Yunus faced beating, ill treatment and verbal abuse by the prison guards. In her most recent letter, Yunus wrote that a prison guard was indulging himself as she stood there naked waiting for a cardiogram test. Yunus’ lawyers observed significant weight loss, teeth and hair loss.
 
In August, the country’s veteran rights activist and defender Intigam Aliyev was arrested on yet another set of bogus charges – tax evasion, abuse of office, and illegal entrepreneurship. Aliyev was awarded the Homo Homini Human Rights Award in 2013.
 
Just a few weeks after Aliyev’s arrest, a journalist from Nakhchivan, Ilgar Nasibov, was severely beaten by unknown assailants while another opposition journalist Seymur Hazi was arrested and handed yet another lengthy sentence in prison.
 
 
NGOs are also under attack   
 
It wasn’t just a difficult year for journalists and rights advocates but also for the non-governmental organizations. On February 4, President Aliyev approved a draconian law on the NGOs making it virtually impossible to operate for local organizations. The new amendments also made it difficult for the local branches of foreign organizations. As a result, several organizations stalled their work and closed down their offices in the country.
 
In an attempt to pursue the so-called “wrongdoers,” the government also launched a criminal case against foreign funded entities [which most of the non-governmental organizations in Azerbaijan are as they receive funding from abroad]. On April 22, the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office launched a criminal case under Articles 308.1 (power abuse) and 313 (service forgery). The authorities claimed “irregularities” in operation of a number of local NGOs and representatives of foreign NGOs. As a result more than twenty local NGOs had their organizational bank accounts frozen, their directors summoned for questioning and in some cases arrested.
 
The offices of Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS), IREX and later Radio Free Europe’s local bureau were raided and shut down. NDI and IREX withdrew their country representatives shortly after the raids in October.  
 
“You whore, behave or you’ll be defamed!”
 
On December 5, authorities arrested Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative reporter with the Baku bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for “incitement to suicide”.
 
For the past few years, Khadija unearthed numerous deals, companies, and connections linked to the ruling family members, or other officials and their thriving offshore savings. Eventually the government caught up with her.
 
In February 2014, Khadija was accused of spying for the United States. “At least it wasn’t drug possession or bribery” she commented wittily during one of the interviews. In October 2014, Khadija faced new charges in a criminal defamation suit. A former member of the political opposition claimed Khadija had slandered him publicly. The orchestrated arrest in December was the most recent attempt to silence Khadija and her journalistic investigations in an on-going campaign against her. Khadija was blackmailed in 2012 with a package containing intimate photographs and a video of her as well as a note  “You whore, behave or you will be defamed”. Prior she was accused of treason, espionage, and criminal libel. In her New Year letter sent from prison, Khadija said she was strong and once again called the accusations against her absurd. 
 
No one left to report
 
As if not satisfied with its crackdown record of 2014, the authorities sealed the local bureauof the U.S. funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on December 26, 2014. Azadliq Radio as it is known in Azerbaijan was the sole remaining independent media outlet reporting on Azerbaijan. Now, there is no independent journalists left in the country but a handful of freelance reporters whose safety too is in danger.
 
Looking back at the past year of crackdowns one can only predict harder times for whatever remnants of free speech and democracy left in this “European charm of the Orient.” 

Tags: NULL