Thomas Melia: Baku has to stop media crackdown
"Azerbaijan's introduction of legal restrictions on the Internet, including new penalties to criminalize online speech, represents a further erosion of freedom of expression in a country where several journalists and bloggers are already detained or sentenced to prison terms," Thomas Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor stated at OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, September 25, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
Addressing in front of the OSCE member representatives, Mr. Melia reminded that journalists, such as Khadija Ismayilova, are subjected to ongoing harassment and threats in Azerbaijan. Several bloggers have also been targeted for intimidation.
"We urge the authorities to investigate expeditiously such cases, as well as the satellite broadcasting problems encountered by RFE/RL and other Azerbaijani language media," he underscored.
Local and international media rights groups accuse Ilham Aliyev government, in power since 2003, of curbing dissent and freedom of speech in the country, a claim that the Azeri government denies. -0-
Politics
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