The Observatory: Azerbaijani activists threatened

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), would like to express its deep concern over new threats against several human rights defenders in the Republic of Azerbaijan (1-MAY-2005).

Activists persecuted
According to the information received from reliable sources, including the Azerbaijani Committee of the Helsinki Citizen´s Assembly (HCA), its Chairperson, Mrs. Arzu Abdullayeva, also co- President of HCA International, and Mr. Zardusht Alizade, President of the Caucasian Centre of Crisis Situations, were subjected to targeted threats and acts of harassment as a result of their activities.

Since the beginning of 2005, Mrs. Abdullayeva has indeed noticed on a number of occasions that she was followed by unknown individuals. Their presence was so obvious that she believes they aimed more to intimidate her psychologically rather than to subject her to surveillance.

Moreover, at the beginning of March 2005, Mrs. Abdullayeva began to receive anonymous death threats. On April 9, 2005, an unknown man came to HCA office in Baku, and asked for her, saying that he had an appointment with her. Mrs. Abdullayeva was not in the office and had no appointment with him. Later, the same man visited the HCA Commission for Migrants (another HCA location) looking for Mr. Zardusht Alizade. His colleagues explained that he worked in the same office as Mrs. Abdullayeva, which the man had visited before. Finally, later on the same day, an unknown man came to Mrs. Abdullayeva´s home and asked for her. As she was absent, her relatives refused to let him in.

Furthermore, the Observatory was informed that at the end of March 2005,Mrs. Leyla Yunus, a member of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, learned from some anonymous sources that her name was on the list of the special services and that she “had to be careful”. Furthermore, at the end of March 2005, she was also subjected to defamation campaigns. Indeed, the speaker of the program 167 of Lider TV channel declared that Mrs.Yunus´ activities were directed against the Azerbaijani State and that she was nevertheless seeking the protection of law- enforcement bodies. In his conclusion, the speaker asked whether people such as Mrs. Yunus should be given protection at all.

Opposition journalist murdered
The Observatory is all the more concerned by these events that they follow the killing of Mr. Elmar Husseinov, founder and editor-in-chief of the Monitor, a weekly newspaper which works closely with HCA. On March 2, 2005, Mr. Husseinov was shot dead by unknown attackers in the entrance hall of his home.

Appeal to Azeri authorities
 The Observatory urges the Azerbaijani authorities to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Abdullayeva, Mrs. Yunus, Mr. Alizade and Mr. Zeylanov in all circumstances and put an end to any threats against human rights defenders, as well as to put an end to any defamation against Mrs. Yunus and Mr. Zeylanov.

More generally, the Observatory calls on the authorities to guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international instruments ratified by Azerbaijan.