The U.S. State Department says its concerns about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan are deepening after authorities there raided and closed RFE/RL’s Baku bureau and interrogated its employees and contractors.

State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told a December 29 news briefing in Washington: “These actions, along with the denial of access to legal counsel during these interrogations, is further cause for concern.»

Rathke said the United States is calling on Baku “to adhere to their OSCE and other international commitments to uphold human rights and basic freedoms.”

He added that the raid and closure of the U.S.-government-funded broadcaster’s bureau came five days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had raised Washington’s concerns about human rights in Azerbaijan during a phone conversation with President Ilham Aliyev.

The offices of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known as Radio Azadliq, were raided on December 26 by investigators from the state prosecutor’s office who confiscated documents, files, and equipment before sealing off the premises.

Summoned

Twelve bureau employees who were detained on December 27 and December 28 for questioning were released only after signing a document vowing not to disclose details about the investigation.

At least eight more current and former employees were summoned to prosecutors on December 29.

Rathke’s comments followed reports earlier in the day that Aliyev had pardoned 87 people convicted of crimes, including several that are widely considered political prisoners.

Rathke called the amnesty “a step in the right direction.”

“We urge Azerbaijan’s authorities to build on these pardons by releasing others incarcerated in connection with exercising their fundamental freedoms,” he said.

Meanwhile, the OSCE on December 29 denounced Azerbaijan’s targeting of RFE/RL’s Baku bureau as «another severe blow to free media and free expression» in the former Soviet republic.

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on media freedom, said in a statement that Baku «must allow» work to resume by RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service «and safeguard the existence of critical voices in the country.»

Earlier on December 29, Novruz Mammadov, the deputy head of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration and director of its Foreign Relations Department, accused U.S. diplomats of “losing their sense of proportion” over the crackdown on the U.S.-government funded broadcaster.

Mammadov was responding to criticism from the U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer, who wrote on December 27 that Baku’s decision to shut down Radio Azadliq was “the behavior of a weak, insecure, corrupt” leadership.

Islam Shikhali, an RFE/RL video reporter, told VOA on December 28 that he had been warned not to discuss his interrogation.

«I was told I shouldn’t give any statements but my lawyer told me this is absolutely illegal,» Shikhali said. He added that he had been asked «general questions» about salaries and hiring practices.

Zeynal Mammadli, editor in chief of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijan Service, which is called Radio Azadliq locally, criticized the government’s «noise, threats, summonses for questioning without notice,» and harassment of defense lawyers.

«I am worried about my colleagues,» she said. «I am worried about their lives after this — their salaries, how they will make a living. Some of them have bank loans, mortgages. Losing their jobs will be difficult.»

Broader Crackdown

The office raid and forced questioning come as prosecutors are investigating the Azadliq office as a foreign-funded entity.

Siyavoush Novruzov, a high-ranking member of the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party, defended the raid as a national security issue.

Speaking to local media, he said it was necessary to close the bureau to prevent espionage, adding, «Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian lobby should be raided.»

In Brussels, a spokesperson for the secretary-general of the Council of Europe said the «closure of [the] Radio Free Europe office again raises concerns over freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.»

The spokesperson said in a December 28 statement that the Council of Europe «will request the reason and legal justification for this action from the Azerbaijani authorities.»

The focus on RFE/RL comes amid a broader crackdown on independent journalists, activists, and nongovernment organizations that have raised criticisms about authorities in the oil-rich Caspian country.

As many as 15 journalists and bloggers are currently behind bars in Azerbaijan, including Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative reporter and RFE/RL contributor.

Other detainees include Leyla Yunus, one of the country’s best-known human rights activists, whose work includes the promotion of normalized ties with neighboring Armenia.

With reporting by VOA

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-official-lashes-out-criticism-over-rferl-raid/26767855.html

WASHINGTON — A U.S. State Department official says that the United States is «concerned» by reports of a raid on the Baku bureau of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service.

«We are concerned by reports that employees of the RFE/RL bureau in Baku have been detained in their offices and questioned while the premises were searched by police,» the official said on customary condition of anonymity.

Investigators and armed police entered the bureau on December 26, confiscating computers and holding staff members in a room for several hours.

Prosecutors say the raid is part of an ongoing investigation into RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service as a foreign-funded entity. RFE/RL and its bureaus are financed by the U.S. government.

The State Department official called on Azerbaijan to conduct a «transparent» investigation in line with Baku’s «international commitment to protecting media freedom.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-rferl-bureau-raided-us-reaction/26764329.html

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says at least 60 journalists have been killed in 2014 in connection with their work.

In a report on December 23, the media watchdog said an «unusually high proportion» of international journalists were killed this year while covering conflicts in places like the Middle East, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.

With at least 17 journalists killed in 2014, Syria remained the world’s deadliest country for the third straight year, CPJ said in the report.

Among them were American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, whose beheadings by Islamic State (IS) militants were shown in videos released by the militant group in August and September.

In total, some 79 reporters have been killed in Syria since the country’s bloody conflict erupted in 2011.

Of the five reporters and two media workers killed in Ukraine this year, six were international journalists, the New York-based CPJ said.

They were the first journalism-related deaths CPJ has confirmed in Ukraine since 2001.

More than 4,700 people have been killed in a conflict between pro-Russian rebels and government forces in eastern Ukraine since April.

In Afghanistan, Anja Niedringhaus, a German photographer for The Associated Press, was shot dead by a police officer while covering elections in April.

Around a quarter of the journalists killed in 2014 were international correspondents, roughly double the usual proportion, the report said.

However, despite the high casualty rate of international journalists, the report points out that the «overwhelming majority» of journalists at risk for their work around the world continue to be local.

The study found that about nine of every 10 journalists killed are local people covering local stories.

Five journalists have been killed in Iraq this year, including three reporters who lost their lives while covering clashes between government troops and the IS militants.

Three local journalists have been killed in Pakistan this year, a decline from previous years, but violence against reporters persisted.

Pakistani television anchors Hamid Mir and Raza Rumi were serious wounded in separate attacks by gunmen, and Rumi’s driver was killed.

CPJ says it is still investigating whether the deaths of at least 18 other journalists this year were related to their work.

With reporting by AFP and AP

http://www.rferl.org/content/cpj-international-journalist-deaths-soared-2014/26758613.html

European Union foreign ministers say Turkey is a «key partner» for the 28-nation bloc but warn that Turkish progress on EU membership would depend on «respecting the rule of law and fundamental rights.»

Turkish police staged on December 14 a series of raids on media outlets said to have close links with opposition parties, arresting more than 20 people.

In a statement released after a meeting in Brussels on December 16, the EU ministers said the authorities’ actions “call into question the respect for freedom of the media.»

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara could not accept «such heavy criticism against Turkey and its government after the beginning of a judicial process.»

The United States has urged Turkish authorities to ensure their actions do not violate media freedom and other democratic values.

http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-eu-media-raids-rule-of-law/26748126.html

Lawmakers in Belarus have passed legislation allowing the state to close any Internet news site that receives two warnings about content in a single year.

Information Minister Liliya Ananich (eds: a woman), who presented the bill to the loyal parliament on December 17, said it will come into force on January 1.

The law does not require the official registration of online media outlets, but says the Information Ministry will monitor them «to ensure that materials used by the websites correspond to Belarusian legislation.»

Website owners will be held responsible for their content.

The law also limits the foreign share of ownership of any news site to 20 percent, down from 30 percent under current law.

Western governments and opponents of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka accuse him of violating the freedom of the media during 20 years in power.

Authorities in several ex-Soviet republics have increased their control over broadcast and print media but have had a harder time suppressing dissent on the Internet.

http://www.rferl.org/content/new-media-law-on-blearus-targets-internet/26748888.html

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says attacks on journalists are becoming “more and more barbaric” and the number of abductions is “growing rapidly.”

In its annual report released on December 16, the Paris-based group says 66 reporters have been killed in connection to their work over the past year, down 7 percent on 2013 thanks largely to fewer deaths in countries «at peace.»

But it also says the beheading of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State extremist group in Syria highlights the danger journalists face in covering conflicts.

RSF says the report highlights “an evolution in the nature of violence against journalists and the way certain kinds, including carefully staged threats and beheadings, are being used for very clear purposes.»

«Rarely have reporters been murdered with such a barbaric sense of propaganda, shocking the entire world,» it adds.

The report found that the deadliest country for journalists was Syria, where 15 were killed, followed by the Palestinian territories (7), Ukraine (6), Iraq (4), and Libya (4).

Three journalists were killed in Afghanistan, two in Pakistan (2), and one in Russia.

Kidnappings

Meanwhile, kidnappings rose 37 percent to 119 in the past year.

Thirty-three of them were abducted in Ukraine, where pro-government forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists since April, 29 in Libya, and 27 in Syria.

About 40 journalists are still being held hostage worldwide.

According to the report, 90 percent of those abducted were local journalists.

For instance, all of the eight journalists currently held hostage in Iraq are Iraqis.

Worldwide, a total of 178 professional journalists were in prison as of December 8, the same number, as last year.

China is the country where most journalists were jailed in the past year (29), followed by Eritrea (28), Iran (19), Egypt (16), and Syria (13).

Ten journalists were imprisoned in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, and four in Russia.

The report describes Azerbaijan as «Europe’s biggest prison for media personnel» and highlights the case of Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist and contributor to RFE/RL who is in pretrial detention.

«Now she is being held on the absurd charge of ‘pushing’ a former colleague to attempt suicide, a charge that carries a possible sentence of three to seven years in jail,» it says.

Due to conflicts and «diverse forms of intimidation,» RWB says, twice as many journalists fled into exile this year, as in 2013.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

http://www.rferl.org/content/rsf-journalists-killed-in-barbaric-year/26746230.html

Police in the Russian city of Novosibirsk have detained two men suspected of attacking a local journalist.

The chief editor of online news site Tayga.info, Yevgeny Mezdrikov, said earlier that two men entered his offices on December 8 and punched him in the face several times with no explanation.

Vladimir Gorodetsky, the Siberian region’s governor, told journalists on December 15 that two suspects had been detained on December 12.

The Novosibirsk Journalists Union had urged regional law enforcement officials to investigate, expressing concerns over frequent attacks against journalists in the region.

Advocacy groups say attack on journalists whose work challenges or displeases the authorities in Russia face daily risks and their attackers are rarely punished.

Tayga.info is a private, independent media outlet that has been covering news and events in the region since 2004.

Based on reporting by Tayga.info, TASS, and Interfax

http://www.rferl.org/content/two-suspects-detained-attack-novosibirsk-journalist/26744509.html

Award-winning Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who hosts a daily program for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, has been held in pretrial detention in Baku since December 5 after being accused of encouraging a man to commit suicide — a charge that has been broadly condemned as a flagrant attempt to silence her critical voice.

She is widely perceived to have often been the target of harassment and intimidation by the Azerbaijani government and pro-government forces for months because of her groundbreaking investigations into corruption at the highest levels of power, including President Ilham Aliyev and his family.

Ismayilova was able to send this brief note from jail to RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service.

The letter has been edited for style and grammar.

My dear friends!

Here in pretrial detention, my thoughts are with you. My only regret is that here I am restricted from helping you.

You are doing an important job helping oppressed people. Happy New Year to you and all like-minded people.

A photo of Khadija Ismayilova’s letter from Kurakhani prison (click to enlarge)

I am full of hope on the eve of this New Year that truth and justice will win.

Arrests and restrictions are part of our mission in telling the truth. My arrest proves one more time that it is important to make change happen: We need to build a new reality where truth will be a norm of life and telling the truth will not require courage.

You all know why I am here in prison. Uncovering corruption is the real reason. And the only way to prove oppressive regimes wrong is to continue uncovering corruption, to continue defending the rights of oppressed people. Yes, there is a price to pay. But it is worth it!

As Nazim Hikmet, the Turkish poet, wrote: «Those who carry the teardrops of their siblings as a heavy burden upon their neck shouldn’t follow our path.»

Stay strong!

Keep doing a good job!

More investigations, more efforts for justice and human rights — this is my wish for 2015.

Peace,
Khadija

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-khadija-letter-hope/26742183.html

On International Human Rights Day, ARTICLE 19 and our Central Asian partners — International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech (Adil Soz), National Association of Independent Mass Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT) and Media Policy Institute (MPI) — remind the governments of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan of their obligation to protect the right to freedom of association. This is enshrined in Article 22 of the ICCPR, to which all three states are party. We therefore call on these governments to abandon amendments to their legislation, whether already proposed or currently being drafted, which attempt to restrict how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operate. Читать далее Central Asia: Draft amendments to the legislation regulating the activities of NGOs should guarantee freedom of association →

In this legal analysis, ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression, reviews the Law on Print and Other Mass Media of the Republic of Tajikistan (the Media Law), adopted in 2013. The Media Law is reviewed for its compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. Читать далее Tajikistan: Media Law →