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(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has condemned the Azerbaijani authorities´ freezing of the assets of “Yeni Musavat”, the country´s main opposition daily, on 16 November 2004. The move has forced the paper to cease publishing. The decision was taken on the grounds that the newspaper failed to pay fines and damages totalling some 125,000 euros.   (18 NOV 2004)
 

Issue of one of the leading opposition newspapers of Republic of Azerbaijan “Yeni Musavat” will stop on November 16. According to the Acting Editor of the newspaper Gabil Abbasoglu, the reason – are financial problems. Serious financial hardships of “Yeni Musavat” began in the end of 2003 after executing of court sanctions. In particular, the bank accounts of the newspaper had been arrested and income from selling was spent on paying out debts. Over 2000-2003 the courts fined “Yeni Musavat” with $160,000. (15 NOV 2004)

ARTICLE 19, the London-based Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression, calls upon the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure that its implementation of the Law on Public broadcasing adopted November 5 2004 is “in line with both global standards and Azerbaijan´s international obligations” including accessibility to all citizens, diversity of programmes and themes, as well as editorial and operational independence. (15 NOV 2004)
 

Penitentiary system of Republic of Azerbaijan is one of the most closed spheres even despite democratization of the state system and joining of the country to numerous conventions. Nevertheless, the things impossible during the soviet times or during the initial period of independence are possible today, There almost is not any serious obstacle for visiting of the jails by the human rights activists and journalist unions and the representatives of the international organizations.  (12-NOV-2004)

Torture, persecution, kidnapping, harassment and other pressure mechanisms are frequent cases that Azerbaijani opposition-minded journalists, political party activists and human right defenders expose to, although the Azerbaijani government has ratified Convention against Torture of UN in August 1996 and Convention against Torture of European Council in December 2001. (12 NOV 2004)
 

In a letter to the president Mr. Ilham Aliyev the 29th of October the Human Rights House Foundation  and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) expressed serious concern about the Court of Grave Crime´s decisions. (29-OCT-04).
 

A group of Azerbaijani human rights defenders have appealed to a number of international bodies and influential human rights groups, including Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) to help secure the release of convicted oppositionists. “An unfair sentence was handed down on the convicted opposition leaders, who were charged with organizing disorders during the presidential elections on October 15-16, 2003,” the human rights groups underlined in their appeal. (29 OCT 2004)

The sentencing of seven Azeri opposition leaders caps the government´s record of serious human rights violations, flowing from riots over the contentious 2003 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. The seven Azeri opposition leaders are widely considered political prisoners. (28-OCT-2004)

The International League for Human Rights (ILHR), a non-governmental human rights organization based in New York and in special consultative status with UN ECOSOC, expresses serious concern about the recent detention of religious freedom activist and imam of the Muslim community in Baku Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, who also serves as a director of Center for Defense of Freedom of Conscience and Belief in the Republic of Azerbaijan. (28-OCT-2004)