Freed writers come back home

Two Azerbaijani writers, released from prison in Iran, will arrive in Baku today at 17:00; they will cross the border on Bilasuvar border point, said at a press conference Chingiz Abdullayev, Secretary of the Union of Writers of Azerbaijan.

Writers Farid Hussein and Shahriyar Hajizade were invited to Iran on April 29 to participate in a festival of poetry in Tehran. On May 2, they were arrested in Tabriz.

According to Chingiz Abdullayev, in Iran the writers were not accused, because they had not committed any crime. "At first they wanted to charge the writers with espionage, then drug-related offense, and finally, an illegal border crossing. Only during the trial, it was confirmed that they had come to Iran to participate in the poetry festival, «said Abdullayev.

He said that the Foreign Ministry and the President played a great role in the release of writers. Thus, the Foreign Ministry issued five notes of protest to Iran.

According to Abdullayev, the PEN Clubs of many countries supported the appeal Azerbaijani counterparts, demanding the release of the arrested writers.

At the same time, Chingiz Abdullayev called on Azerbaijan writers to be careful when traveling to Iran.

Responding the question from Turan, what the Union of Writers did for the release of the two writers, Abdullayev said that the Union of Writers constantly "defended and protected them." Then he remembered that there was a time when Isa Gambar was released under warranty of Anar and Yusif Samedoglu. "However, over the last 20 years nobody was arrested in Azerbaijan for writing," he said, accusing local and international human rights activists that they did not defend Azerbaijani writers arrested in Iran. As for the repeated claims of "Reporters without borders", Abdullayev did not hesitate to say, that this organization defended the writers only after "our statements." -03C04-