Radio "Liberty" calls on to stop attacks on its staff in Azerbaijan

Corporation  of radio stations  "Free Europe - Radio Liberty" has condemned the campaign of intimidation and blackmail the  employees  of Azerbaijani Service, Khadija Ismailova and Yafez Hasanov.

The campaign against journalists is taking place on the eve of consideration of the situation in Azerbaijan with human rights in the UN, and before the presidential election, which according to  the President Ilham Aliyev, will be fair, reads the statement  of the Corporation.

On April 25, the pro-government web site posted a fabricated pornographic video  about Khadija Ismayilova. This is the second such provocation against Ismailova since March last year.

 Ismailova is an  author of investigative articles about the business and financial activities amounting hundreds of millions of dollars. For this work she was awarded by  the International Women's Media Foundation. Over the past two weeks  the pressure on  Yafez Hasanovalso increased.

In August 2011, he was arrested and subjected to pressure in Nakhchivan, which was investigating the death Turac Zeynalova in the Ministry of National Security  (MNS) of Nakhchivan. In November 2012 he was threatened though sms, social media and e-mail.

On April 4 documents were sent to Hasanov by mail, which reads  that he had intimate relations with several women.

Later, a man who introduced himself as an agent of MNS, in a telephone conversation on behalf of the head of Nakhchivan Vasif Talybov, offered him to cooperate with the secret services. The caller threatened that if he ever writes something bad about Nakhchivan, it would jeopardize his own life and his family’s life.

On April 19 pro-government web-site "SesTV" Hasanov distributed telephone conversations with the people of Nakhchivan.

Rashid Hajily,  the Director of Media Rights Institute told the online edition of contact.az,  that telephone  recording could be provided only by secret services.

On April 11 three close relatives of Babek Bekir, the  head of the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty", were fired from their job. According to the journalist, the authorities  are taking revenge for professional activity, and want to intimidate him and other employees of the radio.

Director of the Azerbaijani service of "Radio Liberty", Kenan Aliyev said in this regard: "The attacks on Khadija, Yafez or any other personnel - is an attack on "Radio Liberty."

CEO of  Radio "Free Europe - Radio Liberty" Kevin Cloze, said: "All this is seriously action purposefully carried out. The government should seriously evaluate this, because many people say that the authorities of Azerbaijan, or their agents are  either directly or indirectly involved in it," said Cloze.

"Yafez  nd Khadija exercise their rights, fulfill their journalistic professional duty, therefore ensuring their safety, should worry all society. I call on  the Azerbaijani officials and President Ilham Aliyev to take immediate measures to put an end to these threats,"  he  said.—03D06-