According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, left, the poets were handed over to Azerbaijan’s consulate in the Iranian city of Tabriz on 4 September, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) informs.

Politically motivated arrest
Azeri poets and journalists Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizade were arrested in Tabriz, northwestern Iran for alleged espionage. They had gone to Tehran on 29 April 2012 to participate in a poetry festival on 1 May, and were arrested on their way back home on 2 May 2012, English PEN reports.

It took the Iranian government a month and a half to confirm that it had arrested them. No official information was given about the reason for their detention or any charges against them. They were subsequently charged with spying.

In August Iranian media reported allegations that the two had links to Azerbaijani secret services and had recruited a number of dissidents in Iran to promote separatism.

It is believed that their detention may be politically motivated. Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have escalated in recent months over a number of political issues, including Azerbaijani accusations that Iran plotted to carry out terrorist attacks in the Azeri capital, territorial disputes and geostrategic interests linked to the routing of major oil and gas pipelines.

Tehran accuses Baku of manipulating northern Iran’s sizeable Azeri minority, while Baku has been cracking down on pro-Iranian religious sectors in Azerbaijan, accusing them of colluding Tehran.

“We are delighted that Huseyn and Hajizade are finally free as their ordeal had dragged on too long. The outcome, which has more of the hallmarks of a Cold War prisoner swap than a sober judicial decision, emphasizes the absurdity of the charges brought against them”, Reporters Without Borders says.

Background information
Farid Huseyn, 24, covers cultural, social and literary issues for the Azerbaijani newspaper 525 and the Azerbaijani daily Kaspiy.

Shahriyar Hajizade, 22, is known for articles published online on social networks about youth issues and discussing issues concerning the rights of Iran’s large Azeri minority.

Journalists held as hostages
Huseyn and Hajizade released, there is still a number of other journalists held in prison both in Azerbaijan and Iran.

“We reiterate our call for the immediate release of Anar Bayramli, a correspondent for several Iranian media who is detained in Azerbaijan, and Said Matinpour, a journalist with an Iranian Azeri-language newspaper who is detained in Iran. It is unacceptable that the Azerbaijani and Iranian government use journalists as bargaining chips”, said Reporters Without Borders.

Employed by two Iranian government media, Fars News and Sahar TV, Bayramli was arrested in Baku on 17 February and was given a two-year jail sentence on the trumped-up charge of possessing drugs. His sentence was halved last month.

Matinpour, who worked for the Azeri-language weekly Yarpagh, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of anti-government propaganda and “maintaining relations with foreigners” following his arrest on 11 July 2009.

“The journalists are being held hostage in the diplomatic stand-off between Iran and Azerbaijan. The two countries must stop making the media pay for their mutual hostility. Such behaviour is unacceptable and incompatible with their international obligations”, states Reporters Without Borders.

Deteriorating freedom of expression situation
Both Iran and Azerbaijan have a very low record of freedom of expression. Azerbaijan is ranked 162nd and Iran 175th out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index.

The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA), coordinated by Article 19, expressed its concern on 7 September by the deteriorating freedom of expression situation in Azerbaijan.

Of specific concern is the threat of imminent closure for one of the most popular newspapers in the country, Azadliq.

In addition, in recent weeks, another journalist was imprisoned on politically motivated charges, concerns surfaced regarding detention conditions for two other journalists, and a critical journalist who was previously attacked continued to experience harassment. Further, recent monitoring of Baku’s newsstands showed that independent and opposition newspapers face growing distribution problems.

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