Posted
April 20th, 2009
by
English PEN welcomes the release from prison of journalists Sakit Zakhidov and Ali Hasanov, who were granted amnesty.
According to our information, Sakit Zakhidov, poet and journalist and satirist for the newspaper Azadlyg, and Ali Hasanov, editor-in-chief of the daily Ideal, were released on 9 and 15 April 2009, respectively.
Sakit Zakhidov was arrested on 24 June 2006, and sentenced on 4 October 2006 to three years in prison on drugs charges that are widely considered to be trumped up. During the trial, the Public Prosecutor told the court that there was no evidence that Zakhidov was selling drugs and asked that the charges be changed from drug dealing to drug use. However, he was convicted to the maximum sentence. Zakhidov is known for his satirical poems that are said to be laced with obscenities, following a traditional format from the region of Azerbaijan where Zakhidov was born. One of his poems “What if we didn’t have him?” focussed on the personality cult that surrounded the late Azeri president Heidar Aliyev and contained comment that some analysts see as slanderous. In April 2008 Sakit Zakhidov received the Human Rights Watch administered Hellmann/Hammett award in recognition of his journalism in the face of persecution.
Journalist Ali Hasanov was arrested and sentenced on 14 November 2008 to six-months in prison on defamation charges. The case was filed by a Nagorno-Karabakh war veteran, who alleged that two articles published in Ideal in August 2008 harmed her honour and dignity. There are reports that the articles in question were written by a person who used a pseudonym. Hasanov was released after serving five months of his six-month prison sentence.
English PEN has been monitoring the cases of other writers and journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan, notably Honorary Member Eynulla Fatullayev, Novruzali Mamedov and Ganimat Zakhidov, Sakit Zakhidov’s brother. PEN has continued recording threats and harassment against writers in Azerbaijan, and remains concerned about the safety and well-being of reporters in the country.
Please send appeals:
- Welcoming the release of Sakit Zakhidov and Ali Hasanov;
- Calling for an end to the imprisonment and harassment of journalists in Azerbaijan in the practice of their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the ICCPR, to which Azerbaijan is a state party.
Appeals to:
Mr. Ilham Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
The President Palace
Istiglaliyyat street, 19
Baku city, AZ1066
Republic of Azerbaijan
Fax: 00994 12 492 35 43, 492 06 25
Lt.-Gen. Ramil Usubov
Minister of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Husu Hajiyev Street 7
370005 Baku
Azerbaijan
Fax: 00994 12 492 45 90
Please copy your appeal to the representative for Azerbaijan in the UK asking them to forward it and welcoming any comments:
His Excellency Fakhraddin Gurbanov
Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
4, Kensington Court
London
W8 5DL
Originally posted with the url: www.englishpen.org/writersinprison/bulletins/azerbaijanjournalistsreleasedfromprison/
