Europe Plus

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new
information and requests urgent intervention in the following situation
in Azerbaijan.

The statement says that the Observatory has been informed by reliable
sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention and deterioration of the
health condition of Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace
and Democracy (IPD) and a member of OMCT General Assembly.

According to the information received, although the health of Ms. Leyla
Yunus has deteriorated while in detention, the prison authorities in
Kurdakhany detention facility have not allowed her to receive the
parcels with medication she needs as she suffers from diabetes and
kidneys problems. However, following the visit from delegates of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on August 12, 2014, she
finally got her painkiller-injections. Yet she is still not allowed to
be hospitalised.

The Observatory recalls that Ms. Leyla Yunus has been detained since
July 30, 2014, when she was sentenced to three months pre-trial
detention. Her husband, Mr. Arif Yunusov, Head of the Conflictology
Department of IPD, was also arrested on August 5, 2014 and placed in
pre-trial detention for three months. Both of them are charged with
espionage in favor of Armenia. Mr. Yunusov is also in great need for
medical treatment as he would be in a pre-stroke condition. In April and
May 2014, he got two heart attacks and consequently spent several weeks
in hospital.

The Observatory also recalls that Messrs. Rasul Jafarov, prominent
human rights defender engaged in the defence of the rights of political
prisoners and leader of “Sing for Democracy” and “Art for Democracy”,
and Intigam Aliyev, Head of the Legal Enlightenment Society, were
arrested respectively on August 2 and August 8, 2014 on the basis of
spurious accusations, and are also allegedly in need of medical support.
Mr. Aliyev was initially detained in a cell with smokers, yet following
the ICRC visit on August 12 he was transferred to a more spacious cell.

The Observatory is also concerned about the adequate healthcare and
prison conditions of other human rights defenders who remain detained in
relation to their human rights activities, including Mr. Anar Mammadli,
Chairperson of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre
(EMDSC), and Mr. Bashir Suleymanli, Executive Director of EMDSC, who
were arrested on December 16, 2013 and May 26, 2014 respectively.
Moreover, Mr. Hilal Mammadov, a defender of the rights of the Talysh
ethnic minority, who suffers asthma, is currently detained in one cell
with former tubercular patients and prisoners suffering hepatitis and
other diseases.

The Observatory also remains concerned about the circumstances and
reasons as to why detained human rights defenders Mr. Hasan Huseynli,
Head of the NGO “Educative Centre ‘Intellectual Citizen'”, and Mr. Emil
Mammadov, Head of the NGO “Promoting Democracy”, sent letters on August 6
to President Ilham Aliyev, in which they express support for President
Aliyev and the army of Azerbaijan. The Observatory strongly fears that
they could have been subject to pressure in detention.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about the ongoing detention
and denial of effective medical care to Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. Arif
Yunusov, which put their health at serious risk, as well as about the
condition of the other above-mentioned human rights defenders.
Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the authorities in Azerbaijan to
provide adequate medical care to them as well as to release them
immediately and unconditionally, as their detention seems to only aim at
sanctioning their activities amidst a wave of increasing repression
against civil society organisations and representatives in Azerbaijan.

WHEN AN autocrat who is intolerant of dissent
begins to see spies and traitors around, it is a good time to be alert.
Now is such a moment in Azerbaijan, the oil-rich but liberty-starved
former Soviet republic in Central Asia. The regime of President Ilham
Aliyev has imprisoned one of the country’s most outspoken advocates for human rights, Leyla Yunus, and her husband, Arif, a historian. The charges: treason, fraud, tax evasion and illegal business activities.

Ms.
Yunus is director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku, a
human rights organization, and, in addition to her work defending
political prisoners, she has been at the forefront of attempts to bridge
the country’s long hostility with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
She organized exchanges and confidence-building efforts between Azeri
and Armenian intellectuals, and this apparently provided the pretext for
the absurd charge of espionage. The government had refused to
officially register her institute, making it more vulnerable to the kind
of arbitrary and capricious prosecution that is underway.

Ms.
Yunus and her husband were blocked at the Baku airport on April 28 and
prevented from leaving the country. Their passports were confiscated.
They were repeatedly interrogated but defiantly refused to cooperate
until their passports are returned along with their freedom. On July 30,
Ms. Yunus was detained on her way to a conference. Her husband was also
charged and put under house arrest. But he, too, was jailed on Aug. 5
when on the way to deliver a food parcel to her in prison.

For years, Ms. Yunus has spoken out loudly about human rights abuses in Azerbaijan. The response of the country’s strongman ruler, Mr. Aliyev, has been to emulate
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, gradually turning the screws on
critics through arrests and repressive legislation that narrowed the
space for civil society to survive. Another human rights activist, Rasul Jafarov, was also arrested recently, and dozens of others have been detained for political reasons in recent months.

Mr. Aliyev may think he is being clever by silencing critics while a
crisis in Ukraine has distracted world attention. But that’s what is
different from Soviet times. It is no longer possible to hide such
uncivilized behavior. The arrests have drawn wide protests from human
rights groups and other nongovernmental organizations. Ms. Yunus wrote
an open letter from her jail cell, referring to “jackals of the regime” and declaring: “You could not withstand our words. You responded with violence.”

It is beyond comprehension how Mr. Aliyev can carry out such repression at a time when Azerbaijan is chair of the committee of ministers of the Council of Europe,
the continent’s leading human rights organization. Mr. Aliyev clearly
craves respect abroad. But his actions deserve condemnation. Leyla and
Arif Yunus should be freed immediately. If they are not, perhaps the
Council of Europe should ask how long it can tolerate a chairmanship by a
nation that does not respect even the basic tenets of human rights and
rule of law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com

A couple from Sumgait, 39-year-old Elchin Alimuradoglu and his
32-year-old wife Jala Salakhova morning committed self-immolation in
front of the Administration of the President.

In this way, they protested against the demolition of their homes,
despite the decision of the Sumgait Court to ban the demolition.

The spouses doused themselves with gasoline and set on fire in spite of
the strict guard in the area. Immediately after the incident, security
officers extinguished the flames, but the two people are seriously
burned and were taken to the burn center of Hospital No 5.

Location of the incident was cordoned off by police and journalists were not allowed there.

Turan was told at the Baku Ambulance Station that the woman has burns
of the torso and legs and the man has burns of the back, 2-3 degrees.

The state of both is characterized as serious.

The first time such an act of protest took place in the past year by a
veteran of the Karabakh war Zaur Hasanov, protesting against the
demolition of his commercial facility on the outskirts of Baku. As a
result of his injuries, he died in hospital a few days later. The
authorities paid his family 100,000 manats.

Former U.S. intelligence
contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking
extensive secrets of its electronic surveillance programs, has been
given a three-year residence permit by Russia, his Russian lawyer told
reporters on Thursday.

The announcement comes at a time when Russia’s relations with the
West are at Cold War-era lows over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

“The decision on the application has been taken and therefore, with
effect from August 1, 2014, Edward Snowden has received a three-year
residential permit,” Anatoly Kucherena said.

“In the future, Edward himself will take a decision on whether to
stay on [in Russia] and get Russian citizenship or leave for the United
States,” added Kucherena.

He said Snowden could apply for citizenship after living in Russia
for five years, in 2018, but that he had not decided whether he wanted
to stay or leave.

Kucherena said Snowden was studying Russian and had an IT-related
job, but did not provide details. “He is a high-class IT specialist,” he
said.

He said Snowden’s security was being taken seriously and that he was using private security guards.

“He leads a rather modest lifestyle, but nevertheless we proceed from
the tone of statements that come from the U.S. State Department and
other political figures,” he said.

“The security issue should not be treated as a secondary one.”

Snowden’s place of residence has not been disclosed and few pictures of him have appeared in the media.

His lawyer has in the past expressed concerns that he could be at
risk, given his intelligence background and the outrage over the leaks
expressed by U.S. authorities.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong and then Moscow last year after leaking details of secret state surveillance programs.

He spent almost six weeks at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport before
Russia granted him asylum for a year on August. 1, 2013, upsetting
Washington, which wants to try him on charges including espionage.

Snowden is believed to have taken 1.7 million digital documents with
him. His leaks revealed massive programs run by the U.S. National
Security Agency (NSA) that gathered information on hundreds of millions
of Americans’ emails, phone calls and Internet use.

He was charged last year in the United States with theft of
government property, unauthorized communication of national defense
information and wilful communication of classified intelligence to an
unauthorized person.

The
EU has expressed dismay at the arrest of another prominent human rights
defender, Rasul Jafarov, in Azerbaijan, on charges related to his work
for the Human Rights Club NGO, which “appear to be directly linked to recent changes in Azerbaijan’s legislation covering non-governmental organisations.”

A statement from the spokespersons of the EU External Action Service on 6 August said: “The
arrest of Mr Jafarov, coming so soon after the arrest last week of Dr
Leyla Yunus, adds to the impression that the authorities are
systematically restricting the space for public discourse and civil
society in Azerbaijan. We have also learned with concern that the
husband of Dr Yunus, Mr Arif Yunus, has been sentenced to three months’
pre-trial detention yesterday.”

The statement said the EU remained concerned by the security situation in the region: recalling its recent statement regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. “We
are convinced that the civil society has a vital role to play in
defending fundamental freedoms, especially during times of conflict,” it said, adding: “This
was the message delivered by European Commission President Barroso to
President Aliyev during his visit to Azerbaijan on 14 June 2014.”