Press releases & protests

For Immediate Release Contact: Mark Bench, 703.715.9811
embench@wpfc.org

WPFC Makes Fund Against Censorship Grant to Azerbaijan Journalists
Who Are Taking Their Case to the European Court of Human Rights

Reston, USA, March 19, 2008 — The World Press Freedom Committee (www.wpfc.org) —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from throughout the world— made a second Fund Against Censorship grant to fund the legal defense of Azerbaijan journalists Rovshen Kebirli, editor of Mukhalifet, an independent newspaper, and Yashar Agazade, a reporter of this publication. Both have decided to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting all domestic legal recourses.

“We are supporting this new effort in view of the terrible judicial harassment they continue to be subject to, specifically, two separate jail sentences for each, which drove them into a hunger strike last year,” said WPFC’s Executive Director Mark Bench. “Now they have only one legal recourse to seek justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and we will stand by them to fight this new injustice perpetrated by Azeri authorities.”

This harassment has become physical in recent weeks. On March 13th, Agil Khalil, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Azadlig, was stabbed as he was leaving his office. This is the latest in a series of attacks against him and his newspaper.

On May 16, 2007, Kebirli and Agazade were sentenced to two and a half years in prison as a result of the criminal defamation proceedings against them stemming from the publication of an article critical of Parliament member Jalal Aliyev, a close relative of President Ilham Aliyev.

The article, published on Feb. 27, 2007, accused Jalal Aliyev of corruption and mismanagement of agriculture fields. He reacted by pressing criminal defamation charges against the two journalists for “insulting his dignity.”

In another extensively researched Mukhalifet article drawing upon several official documents, Aliyev was accused of failing to fulfill his contractual obligations, including the payment of US$20 million to an Iranian businessman. Aliyev hit back with another criminal defamation suit, and the journalists were found guilty and sentenced to another two and a half years in prison.

The local Caucus Media Investigations Center condemned the sentences calling them “politically motivated,” an attack on freedom of expression, and a violation of the country’s Constitution and of international treaties of which Azerbaijan is a signatory.

Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade have joined several other journalists in prison, making Azerbaijan one of the least press-freedom friendly countries in the world.

WPFC intervened on behalf of both of them by sending a protest letter to President Aliyev urging him to use his influence in order to gain the release of not only Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade but also all imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan.

“The incarcerations of Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade and the rest of their colleagues constitute a frontal attack on the very press freedom principles whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society,” wrote Exective Director Bench. “Therefore, your Excellency, I urge you to use the full extent of the executive power’s influence to begin immediately the appropriate proceedings to free all of them.”

One day after the letter was published by the national media, Kebirli and Agazade started a hunger strike that took a heavy toll on both men’s health.

Jalal Aliyev’s judicial harassment on these journalists started in 2003, when a Mukhalifet article allegedly revealed him as the head of a “grain mafia” and accused him of using his privileged position —at that time his brother Heyday Aliyev, the father of the current president, was the head of the Azeri state— to enrich himself. Jalal Aliyev filed a defamation suit that cost Kebirli a five-month prison sentence, which was eventually nullified by Parliamentary amnesty.

Through the granting of these funds, WPFC aims to attain the following goals:

Enable Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade to put up a decent defense at the European Court of Human Rights.
Attract both national and international attention to yet another outrageous attempt to silence an independent publication in a country dominated by official media.
Attract attention to a blatant case of abusing the powers of the State, specifically the invoking of regressive criminal defamation laws that stifle transparency and foster corruption.
Attract international attention to the many difficulties the Azeri independent media face because of this and many other instances of official harassment and intimidation.
Send a clear signal to the government of Azerbaijan that their attempts to silence responsible journalists will have international repercussions.
Gain the release of Messrs. Kebirli and Agazade.

The Fund Against Censorship provides financial assistance for legal costs to journalists who are the target of judicial harassment and other forms of intimidation. The grant is made by WPFC on behalf of the global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which includes, in addition to WPFC: the International Press Institute (Vienna, Austria); Inter American Press Association (Miami, USA); International Association of Broadcasting (Montevideo, Uruguay); World Association of Newspapers (Paris, France); Commonwealth Press Union (London, England); North American Broadcasters Association (Los Angeles, USA); International Federation of the Periodical Press (London, England); and the Committee to Protect Journalists (New York, USA).

Since 1977 the World Press Freedom Committee, an international coalition representing 45 press freedom groups throughout the world, has made numerous grants in its cooperative program to help news media and journalists of the developing world and more recently, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Each request is well screened, and the success of the program depends upon generous donations from foundations, businesses and individuals.

###