Tag Archives: human rights

Tajik government pressures IRPT

AUG. 28 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik government warned the Islamic Renaissance Party, the last remaining opposition parties, that it is now operating illegally because it was no longer active in enough cities to merit being called a political party.

Analysts said that this was another attempt by the government to disband one of its biggest critics.

In a statement published by the state news agency Khovar, the justice ministry said: “The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan is no longer a republican party.”

Officials said that according to the law, a republican party must have representative cells in most cities and district.

The statement says that the IRPT has cut its activities in 58 cities and districts, and cannot be considered an all-republican party able to hold a national congress.

The Tajik justice ministry gave IRPT 10 days to respond to the statement.

IRPT plans to hold a congress on Sept. 15 to choose new leaders to replace its self-exiled leader.

Mahmadali Hait, the deputy head of IRPT, told local media that the party is going to answer the government’s statement soon.

“Our answer to the justice ministry is almost ready, but we can disclose it only after the ministry receives our answer,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Police clash with protesters in Azerbaijan

AUG. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Riot police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of dozens of young men in the provincial Azerbaijani town of Mingachevir, a rare display of public anger and frustration in Azerbaijan. The crowd had been calling for the head of the local police force to resign after a 22-year-old Azerbaijani man died in police custody two days earlier.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

UN members criticise Azerbaijan

AUG. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Six members of the UN’s Human Rights Council said that a trial that sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to jail for 8-1/2 and 7 years for various financial crimes, was politically motivated. Their intervention was just the latest in a series of criticism of the authorities in Azerbaijan by Western rights groups.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Azerbaijan jails prominent human rights defenders

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to 8-1/2 and 7 years in prison for financial crimes, in what their supporters said was a sham trial.

Tanya Lokshina, a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Moscow, attended the sentencing.

“No matter what technical and legalistic pretexts the authorities are now using to lock up and destroy the Yunuses, one glance into that courtroom leaves you with no shadow of a doubt — this is a political trial and the supposed perpetrators are in fact victims of a vicious repression campaign against independent critics,” she wrote in a story on the Guardian website.

The Yunuses are just the latest human rights defenders, opposition activists or troublesome journalist to be sent to jail in Azerbaijan. The authorities have responded by saying that the West is mounting a concerted effort to blacken its name with negative PR.

But, perhaps, a precedent has been set. Attitudes towards free speech in Azerbaijan appear very dim as the death of another journalist on Aug. 8 appears to show.

Razim Aliyev died after he was beaten up apparently for criticising on Facebook international Azerbaijani footballer Javid Huseynov for making a politically sensitive gesture at a match between his club Gabala and a Cypriot team. Police have detained six men, including Mr Huseynov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Turkmen officials block horse breeder

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Turkmenistan have stopped a prominent horse breeder who has fallen out of favour with senior officials from leaving the country, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. HRW said that Geldy Kyarizov and his family were barred from boarding a flight to Moscow where he was hoping to receive medical treatment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Tajikistan needs more clean water

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior UN official said that Tajikistan needed to prioritise bringing clean drinking water to more people. Leo Heller, Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, made the statement after a mission to the country.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

West calls Azerbaijan for journalist release

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Western media lobby groups called for Azerbaijan to release imprisoned journalist Khadija Ismayilova who is accused of various financial crimes. Her trial was due to begin on July 24. Ms Ismayilova’s supporters say the charges have been fabricated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Tajik court jails opposition member

JULY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tajikistan jailed Jaloliddin Mahmudov, a senior official in the opposition Islamic Renaissance party, for illegally handling weapons, media reported. Opposition groups in Tajikistan have said that they are being unfairly targeted by the authorities.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani activists go on trial

JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Husband and wife Arif and Leyla Yunis will go on trial, accused of financial crimes, on July 27, a year after they were arrested, media reported. Both Arif and Leyla Yunis are high profile human rights defenders and their trial is almost certain to act as a flash-point.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Azerbaijani president rails against Western criticism

JULY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a televised speech to his cabinet, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev said Western governments and human rights groups had no right to criticise Azerbaijan for a clampdown on civil rights.

In seemingly combative mood, Mr Aliyev took aim at the German parliament, the Bundestag, which had just passed a motion criticising Azerbaijan.

“Is the German Bundestag master of the world, ruler of the world, should everyone obey them?” Mr Aliyev said. “We don’t want anything from them, while they, on the contrary, need our gas, contracts, oil and our activity in this region.”

Mr Aliyev, increasingly vocally, rails against the West for what he has said is unfair criticism of his government.

Baku hosted the inaugural European Games last month, an event that Mr Aliyev had hoped would showcase Azerbaijan. Instead it was used as a lightning rod by critics

Azerbaijan has evicted several Western institutions, including the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the US Peace Corps, a teaching programme for young Americans.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)