"Reporters without Borders" on the control of authorities over the media of Azerbaijan
Baku/17.12.19/Turan: The Reporters without Borders international organization on December 17 released the annual report.
This year, the number of murders of journalists has decreased in the world, but the number of those arrested has increased.
So, 49 journalists were killed, 389 are under arrest 57 - taken hostage. Journalism is still a dangerous profession.
In the past 20 years, an average of 20 journalists have been killed annually.
In 2019, 17 journalists were killed in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan.
The number of arrested journalists increased by 12%. Almost half of them were in China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In Russia and Turkey, the persecution of critical journalists has reached unprecedented proportions.
In Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Central Asia, governments continue to tighten control over news and information.
Among Azerbaijani journalists whose health conditions are worrying, the report indicates Afgan Mukhtarli. He suffers from diabetes and hypertension. He went on a hunger strike in September, protesting pressure from his lawyer.
“Due to his health, he could not continue the action for a long time and still does not have access to serious medical examinations,” says RBG.-16D-
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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