August 24, 2000
His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
VIA FAX: 011-994-12-920-625
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the
illegal arrests of Rauf Arifoglu and Etibar Djebrayiloglu, respectively
editor-in-chief and special correspondent of the opposition daily Yeni
Musavat, and by the illegal banning of the independent newspaper Uch
Noqte. We fear that these and other incidents constitute an organized
government campaign to stifle independent journalism in Azerbaijan during
the run-up to the November 5 parliamentary elections.
On August 22, Arifoglu was summoned to the prosecutor's office for questioning
in connection with an attempted airplane hijacking four days earlier in
Nakhchivan, an Azeri enclave located between Armenia and Turkey. The hijacker,
a member of the opposition party Musavat, called Arifoglu from the plane
to dictate his demands, which he wanted the editor to publish in the party's
newspaper, Yeni Musavat.
Arifoglu immediately notified the police, offering to turn over his tape
recording of the hijacker's demands. The prosecutor's office, however,
has tried to make the unlikely case that Arifoglu helped plan the hijacking.
Officials interrogated the editor for four hours, and then escorted him
to his apartment, where they searched the premises. Arifoglu's lawyer
was not allowed to be present during the search.
Claiming to have found a gun in the apartment, the agents then arrested
Arifoglu for illegal possession of arms. The editor maintains that the
investigators planted the gun in order to frame him.
Several of Arifoglu's colleagues gathered outside his apartment building
while the search was going on. Plainclothes agents attacked journalists
Elchin Hasanov and Ilyas Bahmangolu of the independent television station
ANS, roughing them up and confiscating their equipment.
Arifoglu was taken away to detention at the Ministry for National Security,
along with his personal aide and driver Elchin Kelenterli, who has since
been released. While authorities soon dropped the accusation of illegal
arms possession, the prosecutor's office still claims that Arifoglu helped
plan the hijacking. The editor remains in solitary confinement at the
ministry. He is refusing to cooperate with investigators and has launched
a hunger strike, according to his lawyer.
Two days before Arifoglu's arrest, Yeni Musavat reporter Etibar
Djebrayiloglu disappeared in Nakhchivan, where he had been sent to report
on the attempted hijacking. The newspaper's deputy editor, Shirzad Mamedli,
told the ANS news agency that Djebrayiloglu was last in touch with the
office at around one p.m. on August 20, after which his mobile phone was
apparently shut down. The Nakhchivan police department claimed to have
no knowledge of Djebrayiloglu's whereabouts. But when Djebrayiloglu surfaced
on August 23, he reported that he had been in police custody.
In a separate incident, on August 18, a Baku court granted Minister for
Press and Information Siruz Tabrizli's petition to ban printing and distribution
of the independent tri-weekly newspaper Uch Noqte. The court's
decision was reportedly based on a new law, adopted on February 13 of
this year, which stipulates that a media outlet that loses three lawsuits
within twelve months can be shut down. However, local sources informed
CPJ that this law should not have been applied to Uch Noqte, which
has lost only one case since the new law came into effect.
On August 24, Azerbaijan's main independent media organizations--including
three news agencies, twenty-four newspapers, one magazine, and five press
associations--went on a three-day strike to protest Arifoglu's arrest and
other recent attacks on press freedom. They are issuing a joint newspaper
devoted to press-freedom issues, and have announced that they will launch
a collective hunger strike if the authorities do not release Arifoglu
forthwith and cease harassing the independent press.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists devoted to defending the
rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ demands the immediate release
of Arifoglu. We also urge you to ensure that the illegal ban on Uch
Noqte is revoked and that the paper is allowed to resume publication
without further harassment. Finally, we call on Your Excellency to create
an atmosphere in which all journalists in Azerbaijan may cover the news
without interference from the government.
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. We await your
reply.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Send a letter to:
His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
VIA FAX: 011-994-12-920-625