CPJ calls for immediate release of sick journalist

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued this statement following reports about the deteriorating health of Bizim Yol newspaper reporter Mushfig Huseynov, who has been jailed in state custody since 2007 for allegedly taking a bribe. Huseynov, who suffers from an advanced stage of tuberculosis, is serving a five-year prison term.

"We call on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately commute Mushfig Huseynov’s remaining prison term on humanitarian grounds so he can receive the specialized medical care he urgently needs,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “Our concern for Huseynov’s well-being is heightened by the August death in prison of editor Novruzali Mamedov, who was denied adequate care in the months before he died.”

December 3, 2009 4:01 PM ET | Permalink