AZERBAIJAN: Government slams international human rights organizations

Record ID: 218217

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Government slams international human rights organizations
  • Date: 22nd May 2012
  • Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (MAY 21, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HEAD OF AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION SOCIO-POLITICAL DEPARTMENT ALI HASANOV IN PROGRESS JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE HASANOV SPEAKING MAN WITH AZERBAIJAN EUROVISION FLAG SPEAKING HASANOV SPEAKING VARIOUS JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Azeri) HEAD OF AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENTIAL ADMIN
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAASHNJSQF14KEFOT2498Z40LDN
  • Story Text: The Azeri government on Monday (May 21) hit back at critics of its human rights record, saying that international human rights organisations were seeking to tarnish its image in the week of the Eurovision Song Contest.
    "I especially want to name two organizations. These are the organizations which, after it was determined that the Eurovision contest would be held in Azerbaijan, continue to consistently persecute the Azerbaijan state, the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, the international image of Azerbaijan. One of these, unfortunately, is Amnesty International, and another is Human Rights Watch," Ali Hasanov, the Head of the Azerbaijan Administration's Socio-Political Department told journalists in Baku.
    Rights groups and Western governments have previously urged Azerbaijan, where government critics have been imprisoned on what supporters have called fabricated charges, to take steps to ensure freedom of expression and assembly.
    Last week Amnesty International called on Baku to release 17 opposition activists, jailed by the Azeri authorities and vowed to continue to pressure Azerbaijan on its rights record and to use European contestants to deliver critical messages to the government from inside the immensely popular song contest Critics accuse President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his late father in 2003, of clamping down on dissent, including during protests last year inspired by the Arab Spring. The secular government says Azerbaijan enjoys full freedom of speech and a thriving opposition press.
    Azerbaijan, with just nine million inhabitants and an economy dependent on oil, won the right to host the contest by winning the event last year in Germany, with love song "Running Scared".
    The country under President Ilham Aliyev has come under fire, however, for its human rights record and with reports that homes have been razed near the new Crystal Hall arena as part of a wider redesign of the city.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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