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The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights Center of Republic of Azerbaijan (HRCA) express their deepest concern about the conditions of detention and the legal status of detainees condemned to life imprisonment in the Republic of Azerbaijan. On 18 June 2007, in Qobustan prison, 38 inmates condemned to life sentence began a hunger strike to alert the authorities about their precarious situation. (27-JUL-07)

“The first “Solidarity Marathon” completed successfully”, said Emin Huseynov (right), the director of  the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety, which initiated this action. Covering the period of 22 June – 22 July 2007, the marathon was aimed at raising money to assist the families of the seven imprisoned journalists of Republic of Azerbaijan. It also served as an indicator of solidarity within Azerbaijan’s civil society and journalistic community. (24-JUL-07)

On 19 July 2007 the Political Cultural Center of Azerbaijani Women with the support of the Open Society Institute conducted the debates on the topic “What thinks our intelligentsia: where should we spend our profit from oil?”. The invited oil expert, coordinator of Coalition for Improving Transparency in Extractive Industries, Sabit Bagirov (right) mentioned that “within the scope of profit distribution, a wide range of issues should be covered first”. (21-JUL-07)

The new magazine titled “Leader-Woman” started to be published in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The magazine, covering the information about the activities of women’s organizations is the initiative of the Association for the Protection of Women’s Rights after D.Aliyeva. The magazine is also aimed at agitating the women’s input to the development of society. (20-JUL-07)

At the end of his 3 day’s visit to Republic of Azerbaijan, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth (right), held a press conference on the 17-th of July 2007. He addressed a number of human rights issues, but specifically focused on advocating the immediate release of Azerbaijan’s seven imprisoned journalists. (18-JUL-07)

Director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth had a 3 days visit to Republic of Azerbaijan. On 16 July he had a meeting with a few key human rights NGO-s to get updated on human rights situation in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The meeting also aimed at discussing political situation in the Republic of Azerbaijan one year prior to the Presidential Elections 2008. (17-JUL-07)

The uneasy work of human rights defenders and their protection has been on the agenda for many years. At the end of OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, held in Vienna on 12-13 July 2007, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights released a statement concerning the human rights defenders at risk. (15-JUL-07)

On July 12 the Embassy of Royal Norway in the Republic of Azerbaijan organized the meeting with the human rights defenders of Republic of Azerbaijan. During the meeting, there was discussed the current public political situation and oil incomes of Republic of Azerbaijan. The chair of the meeting, the Ambassador of Norway, Mr.Jon Ramberg (right) mentioned that the national policy should be aimed at “turning black gold into human gold”. (13-JUL-07)

The case of Elnara Ahmedova – a 17-year-old prostitute with AIDS, caused big reaction within the society. Being aware of her disease, she had sexual intercourse with about 200 men since 2003, two of which have already confirmed AIDS infection. The current arguments are now about if the prostitute is a criminal or a victim of unfortunate circumstances. (11-JUL-07)