International Organizations Condemn Baku for Smearing Journalist

Baku / 08.05.19 / Turan: Three international organizations condemned official Baku for the campaign to smear the journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi.

In response to the latest attempt by the authorities in Azerbaijan to blackmail women journalists, Freedom House issued the following statement:

"The practice of threatening to release intimate personal information in order to coerce women journalists to cease their critical reporting is a grave violation of their right to privacy, freedom of expression, and human dignity," said Marc Behrendt, director of Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House. "The government must stop this practice at once. Women journalists must be able to work in Azerbaijan without fear of blackmail."

Azerbaijani journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi faces harassment, threats to leak intimate photos

Azerbaijani authorities should swiftly investigate the harassment and attempted extortion of exiled journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi by pro-government broadcaster Real TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said today.

On April 7, Real TV aired a segment, which CPJ has reviewed, which included audio from a private conversation between Osmanqizi, who lives in the United States, and another journalist who lives in Europe. During the broadcast, a Real TV anchor accused Osmanqizi of engaging in activities against the state of Azerbaijan.

Osmanqizi hosts an online TV program, "Osmanqizi TV," which discusses political issues in Azerbaijan and has featured figures from Azerbaijan's political opposition. She told CPJ that the leaked conversation took place in early April via Facebook's audio calling feature, and she did not know how Real TV obtained a recording of the conversation.

On April 21, Real TV aired another segment, which CPJ reviewed, during which an anchor threatened to release intimate photos of the journalist in seven days unless she ceased her online TV program and issued an apology.

As of May 7, Osmanqizi has continued to broadcast her program, according to a CPJ review of her YouTube page.

"These abhorrent attempts to silence a journalist must stop immediately," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator in New York. "Azerbaijani authorities should investigate these public threats and harassment of Sevinc Osmanqizi and hold the perpetrators to account. The issue of surveillance of an exiled Azeri journalist should also be investigated."

Real TV and the Azerbaijan prosecutor general's office did not respond to CPJ's emailed requests for comment.

"Crude Accountability is deeply concerned about the smear campaign and illegal surveillance of Sevinj Osmanqizi, an independent opposition journalist from Azerbaijan now living in exile in the United States. We call on the United States government and other western governments, as well as international financial institutions, to address this act of retaliation with the government of Azerbaijan.

The perpetrators are trying to influence her by threatening her former students, who now work as journalists in Azerbaijan. On April 28th pro-government news source Real-TV fabricated and published emails that allege that the student and Osmanqizi - journalism school instructor at the US-Azerbaijan Journalism Academy the time - plotted against the government and were working in favor of western countries and sponsors. Fabricating such emails threatens the wellbeing on the journalists inside the country.

Right before the smear campaign started, Osmanqizi ran a series of programs centered around corruption in the oil and gas sector of Azerbaijan. In the programs, Osmanqizi gave a platform to experts and economists to share critical views of the current financial situation and overwhelming corruption. Shortly after running the series, Osmanqizi became a target of the smear campaign. Given the timing, the orders for pressuring her are likely to have come from the highest levels of government.

Blackmail, illegal tapping, exposing private information on government-backed channels have become routine practices of stifling opposition voices in Azerbaijan. Supported by International Financial Institutions and Western governments, it appears that President Aliyev"s regime is willing to break the laws of foreign countries and harass dissidents living abroad, therefore destroying the last remnants of independent voices.

Ignoring this grave retaliation against Ms. Osmanqizi will send a strong signal to perpetrators that their methods of harassment of opposition will be condoned. Protecting Sevinj Osmanqizi is critical for both international and Azerbaijani civil society, as harassment and retaliation are spilling across borders. Crude Accountability calls upon the US government, the EU and the international financial institutions immediately address this horrible case of retaliation with the Aliyev government, and work to ensure that retaliation against independent Azerbaijani civil society and journalists ceases," the organization said.

* Earlier, the authorities used similar tactics against the journalist Khadija Ismailova, whom the authorities blackmailed using sex videos made with a hidden camera to force her to stop investigating corruption in the highest echelons of power in 2012.

In January, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that Azerbaijan violated Ismayilova"s right to private and family life and her freedom of expression.

More recently, intimate photos and videos have been leaked on social networks, including photo shoots of journalist and activist Fatima Movlamli. In March 2018, the police arrested Movlamli and held her for five days, threatening her with rape if she did not sign the document and confess to prostitution. -02D-