Joint Statement of Representatives of Azerbaijani Civil Society on Mehman Huseynov‘s Arrest

We, representatives of Azerbaijani Civil Society, condemn the politically motivated conviction of Chairman of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), a well-known journalist and blogger Mehman Huseynov, and call upon the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release Huseynov.

We believe the imprisonment of Mehman Huseynov is directly linked to his journalism and human rights work. As such, the direct cause of Mehman Huseynov’s arrest and conviction was that he went public about his abduction and torture by the police in January of this year. He also released a viral satirical video related to Mehriban Aliyeva’s appointment as First Vice President by her husband, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev following the Constitutional Amendments introduced last year.

Mehman Huseynov is the author of numerous video reports dealing with mainly high-ranking Azerbaijani officials’ illegally obtained properties and corrupt practices in state procurements. These video reports are posted on Sancaq (Safety Pin), a satiric socio-political online magazine famous on social networking websites, and are viewed by hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis. 

Alongside with his journalistic and blogging activities, Mehman Huseynov has served as the Chairman of the IRFS since November 2016. Like other independent local and international NGOs, IRFS has also been facing a crackdown by the Azerbaijani authorities from 2014 to this day. Emin Huseynov, a co-founder of the organisation, has been forced into exile after hiding in Swiss embassy in Baku for 10 months due to an imminent risk of arrest. Emin Huseynov’s colleague, journalist Rasim Aliyev, who replaced him as the chairman, was beaten to death in August 2015. 

Mehman Huseynov’s recent taking over as the IRFS Chairman, particularly his involvement as one of the initiators of the Civil Society’s joint petition campaign regarding the scandal revolving around reports that Azerbaijani deputy Elkhan Suleymanov’s gave a 2.5-million euro bribe to Italian deputy Luca Volonte in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe caused an additional concern for the authorities.    

Prior to Mehman Huseynov’s arrest, at several plenary meetings of Milli Meclis (Azerbaijani Parliament) in 2016, deputies sympathetic to the ruling elite called for measures to be undertaken against him and new laws to be passed to restrict freedom of expression online.  

Due to his role as a media relations coordinator for the Sing for Democracy campaign on the eve of the Eurovision 2012 song contest held in Azerbaijan, Mehman Huseynov faced a trumped-up criminal case and was banned from leaving the country. The police detained him while renewing his national identity card in November 2014, and his identity card and passport were cancelled. 

Mehman has been under an illegal ban from travelling abroad for the past 5 years. In 2016, he was denied a surgical operation due to his lack of a document confirming his identity.

All of the above-stated facts are a clear proof that he has been persecuted due to his journalistic and human rights activities.

After long-lasting pressure and harassment, the Azerbaijani authorities illegally sentenced Mehman Huseynov to 2 years in jail for defamation on March 3, 2017.

We share the concerns raised in the statements of nearly 30 international human rights organisations and the European Union, OSCE and Council of Europe officials on Mehman Huseynov’s arrest, and call upon the international community to keep track of his case and to step up relevant measures.   

Mehman Huseynov is not the only person put behind bars for exercising his right to freedom of expression. Besides him, there currently are a number of journalists, bloggers and socio-political activists in Azerbaijani prisons who have been jailed on trumped-up charges. 

We, Civil Society activists, call for a fair decision at the upcoming 29 March court hearing on an appeal against Mehman Huseynov’s arrest, his full acquittal and punishment for the police officers that have subjected him to torture. We further call on the high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan’s executive and legislative powers to be tolerant to criticism and to respect fundamental human rights in the country.-0-