Emin Huseynov (on the right), the advocacy expert in the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety and the chairman of the Committee to Defend Journalist S.Zahidov’s Rights, has undergone a series of the human rights abuses this week. The 4-hours detain at the airport upon his arrival from Istanbul, was accompanied by confiscation of his foreign passport and after its return E.Huseynov noticed a few damages, which can prevent his further travel under the pretext of faked passport. The chief of the airport´s border service shift, interrogated Huseynov and advised him “not to be so active”. He also asked about E.Huseynov’s ties in the UK, Ukraine and Georgia. (15-OCT-06)  

On the 11-th of October, Emin Huseynov, co-founder of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety, and his girlfriend, US citizen Sarah Paulsworth, an employee of Turan Information Agency, were detained by Azerbaijan´s border guards in the airport when they arrived in Baku from Istanbul, where they were on vacation. Sarah Paulsworth was released by the border guard service within an hour, after contacting the U.S. Embassy and showing all books and documents in her luggage to border guards.

Passport confiscation
Officer from the State Border Guard confiscated the passport and did not return it four hours. They removed the Turkish visa located on the 18 th page of the passport, and then stuck it back on again so that the stamps from Turkey´s border service do not line up correctly. Huseynov said that the border guards did this so that when he wants to travel abroad again they can accuse him of passport falsification and prevent his trip. Huseynov is now seeking reimbursement for his damaged passport and apologies. In addition he has demanded that the damaged passport be fixed. Huseynov says that when he was told at the airport by border guards and customs agents that they had orders from the “top” to do this.  

Search of the luggage
The border service attempted to check Huseynov´s carryon luggage, but he demanded that witnesses be  called, a video recording of the search be made and that an official search order be drawn up to prevent possible provocation. The protocol was drawn up and border guards and registered that no illegal objects were found in Huseynov´s luggage, but a copy of the protocol was not given to Huseynov.

Interrogation
Huseynov remained under border guards´ control more than four hours and was released at about 7.00 a.m. Prior to his release, Major Aliyev, the border service shift chief, had a half-hour long unofficial conversation with Huseynov. During this conversation, Aliyev attempted to learn which foreign organizations and citizens Huseynov is acquainted with and maintains relationships with. Aliyev also suggested that Huseynov provide information about his cooperation with international organizations and not cooperate with those that dislike Azerbaijan. In particular, Aliyev asked Huseynov about his ties in the UK, Ukraine and Georgia.  He also advised Huseynov “not to be so active”.

Suspicion for shadow
Huseynov interpreted the incident as provocation and pressure related to his human rights work and plans to file his lawsuit against the Baku Airport border guards. He also claims that as soon as he began to lead the Committee to Defend the Rights of Imprisoned Satiric/Journalist Sakit Zahidov people began shadowing him. “Some young people openly follow me and take pictures of me and I was shadowed even in Istanbul, where I went on vacation with my girlfriend”, he said.