Global Voices Advocacy » Onnik Krikorian

Azerbaijan: Youth Activist Sentenced

Onnik Krikorian — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:01:04 +0000

Jabbar Savalan, a 20-year-old opposition youth activist arrested in Azerbaijan on 5 February, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison on drug possession charges. However, his supporters and friends as well as many media freedom and human rights watchdogs, maintain that Javalan was detained because of calls made on Facebook for demonstrations to be held in Azerbaijan following popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

In a press release following Wednesday's verdict, Amnesty International said that it considered the young activist to be a prisoner of conscience.

“All the evidence points to the fact that Jabbar Savalan has been convicted on trumped up charges,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“It’s clear that the real reason he was tried and now convicted was to punish him for – and dissuade others from – calling for anti-government protests inspired by events in the Middle East. Jabbar Savalan is being punished for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.”

Jabbar Savalan was convicted despite a blood test showing he had not used drugs. The conviction was largely based on a confession he was forced to sign and has since retracted. He did not have access to a lawyer during the interrogation.

Jabbar Savalan support site

Although media freedom has long been a concern in Azerbaijan, recent events have highlighted an increasing number of cases concerning online freedom of expression. In March, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a Harvard graduate and political activist was also arrested ostensibly for evading military service at the same time as organizing pro-democracy demonstrations in the country via Facebook. Criminal charges have also been launched against another one of the organizers, Strasbourg-based Elnur Majidli.

Critics of the authorities in the oil-rich former Soviet republic maintain that the situation is fast becoming more serious even when compared to the country's previous record of crushing dissent. Another Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, already remains in prison even though the European Court of Human Rights ruled in his favor and demanded his immediate release. Like Savalan, Fatullayev is now imprisoned on drug possession charges.

Speaking at this week's UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli noted how such charges continue to be used to silence critical voices. The two video blogging youth activists imprisoned in 2009 and conditionally released in November last year joined a panel of youth leaders over Skype. Ironically, however, the following day the Azerbaijani Minister of Communication Ali Abbasov voiced his concern that Skype posed a threat to national security.

The timing of the comments might well have been coincidental, but given the government's track record to date, suspect that more is yet to come and probably with good reason. Marking World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders named Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 1 of 38 “Predators of Press Freedom.”

Azerbaijan: Anonymous says Big Brother might be watching you

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:57:00 +0000

Since activists in Azerbaijan started using Facebook to coordinate and widen their campaign to free two imprisoned video blogging youth activists before their release late last year, many have long been aware that the authorities in the oil-rich former Soviet republic are starting to keep a closer eye on social networking sites.

In June 2010, for example, the Azadliq newspaper reported that in order to counter online activists, pro-government youth were being encouraged to join Facebook, and most recently there has been what many consider to be a campaign to discredit Facebook in the media. This has also extended to ‘exposing’ those with online links to contacts in ‘enemy’ nations.

Coming prior to protests, encouraged by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, staged on 11th March this year, several activists were also detained, allegedly for their online activities. Now, new allegations have also emerged from Anonymous, the international hacking community, as Forbes reported earlier this week.

Anonymous adviser Barrett Brown claimed on the group’s Radio Payback show earlier today that the software had led to pro-democracy dissidents in Azerbaijan, where Booz Allen has offices, getting arrested. The software creates “armies of fake people” through social media sites like Facebook, he said, which results in identifying dissidents with anonymous profiles, a method also known as astroturfing.

While online culture in the South Caucasus still amounts to pretty much adding anyone who sends a friend request on Facebook whether users know them or not, claims that software developed in the U.S. could automate the process and be used by governments to track and monitor networks is particularly cause for alarm.

Dubbed ‘MetalGear’ by Anonymous, the idea of ‘personal management software,’ does however take the task of monitoring citizens to a new and more sophisticated level if details provided by The Tech Herald are correct.

The MetalGear story starts with a proposal [archive copy] from the Office of Air Mobility Command, within the U.S. Air Force, in June of 2010.

The proposal asked for 50 user licenses for software that would allow 10 personas per user. In all, this is a virtual army of 500 personas, who can be centrally controlled by a small group of people.

According to the bid put out, personas must be “…replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally, and geographically consistent.”

In an interview with RFE/RL in January, Evgeny Morozov said that he believed internal security agencies might actually welcome activists joining sites such as Facebook because it makes the task of monitoring their networks easier. Reports of dissidents being arrested, as well as software such as “MetalGear” being developed, seems to confirm that.

For now, however, Forbes says that the evidence for a link between Booz Allen and Azerbaijan is ‘pretty wobbly,’ but nonetheless notes that the company has offices in Baku, the country's capital. A spokesman for Booz Allen also declined to respond to the allegations, saying only that ‘he could not comment on “rumor or speculation” or on contracts [...]‘

Nevertheless, whether the allegations are true or not, they do raise more questions about U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's declared intent to fight Internet repression abroad. Critics already argue that Net Freedom should also extend to the development, sale and export of online surveillance and monitoring tools by U.S. companies.

Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote that, “Software like this has the potential to destroy the internet as a forum for constructive debate.”

Global Voices is currently looking into the allegations made by Anonymous and will update readers when more details are known.

Azerbaijan: Blowing Up in Their Facebook

Onnik Krikorian — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:18:55 +0000

This article by Global Voices’ Caucasus editor was originally published on 9 March 2011 by Transitions Online and is used by permission.

When Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video-blogging youth activists in Azerbaijan, were detained on 8 July 2009 on what many believe were trumped-up charges, supporters and friends naturally used Facebook to campaign for their release. However, spreading networks wide in order to disseminate information and updates, there were obviously risks involved. Reports of the security services monitoring Facebook were coming out of neighboring Iran, and there was no reason to think it couldn’t happen in Azerbaijan.

For the two young men’s supporters, however, that didn't matter. What was arguably more important was that Facebook was crucial in the campaign to free them. And, as international awareness of the plight of Hajizade and Milli increased before their release in last November, they were probably right. Despite the inherent risks, spreading information quickly and efficiently is one thing that Facebook and Twitter are good at. However, with the use of such tools once again in the spotlight following this year’s popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, the debate over persisting personal and security concerns has re-emerged.

In particular, in a recent interview with Radio Free Europe, Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, started the ball rolling by saying that internal security agencies might actually welcome the use of new- and social-media tools. “The reason why the KGB wants you to join Facebook is because it allows them to learn more about you from afar,” he said. “It allows them to identify certain social graphs and social connections between activists. Many of these relationships are now self-disclosed by activists by joining various groups.”

In Azerbaijan that is certainly proving to be the case. On 5 February, Jabbar Savalan, a 20-year-old activist from the opposition Popular Front, was arrested and charged with narcotics possession, something his supporters and lawyer strongly deny. Instead, they claim, Savalan was detained for comments made on Facebook a day earlier calling for Egypt-style protests in the country. Amnesty International has also denounced the charges, calling them a “pretext to punish Jabbar Savalan for his political activism and to discourage other youth activists from exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

The international human rights organization also noted that Savalan was interrogated without a lawyer and alleges that he was pressured into signing a confession that he later retracted. Amnesty further demands that the authorities “justify Jabbar Salavan’s pretrial detention or release him immediately.”

A few days later, on 9 February, another Popular Front activist, Elchin Hasanov, was summoned by police and instructed to remove messages on his Facebook page calling for protest actions in Savalan's support, and last week Harvard-educated parliamentary candidate Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested. Although the charges against him relate to avoiding military conscription, his supporters say that this was again simply an excuse, given his constitutional right to alternative service instead. Moreover, they allege, before his arrest Hajiyev was questioned about his activities on Facebook.

As well he might have been. Of seven moderators of a recently launched Facebook page calling for Egypt-style protests in Azerbaijan to take place on 11 March, Hajiyev is the only one who lives in the country. Indeed, in an interview with RFE’s Baku bureau days earlier, one of those other moderators said that had he opened the page while living in Azerbaijan he would probably have been arrested. A few days later, another activist, Dayanat Babayev, was detained by police for 10 days for what they say was “disrupting public order” while speaking loudly and inappropriately on a cell phone while walking. At least one witness, however, claims that Babayev was instead forcibly removed from an Internet café.

Yet, despite officials’ apparent concern about its power, Facebook penetration in Azerbaijan remains incredibly low, at just 324,880 users or 3.9 percent of the population. This pales in comparison with even neighboring Georgia, where 516,300 people, or 11 percent of the population, use the site. Nevertheless, the authorities in Baku appear to be taking no chances. In April 2010, for example, Zahid Oruj, a member of parliament’s security and defense committee, spoke out against Facebook by suggesting it could be used by foreign powers to “recruit agents.”

“It is possible that secret agents sit in social networks trying to lure people to cooperate,” he told journalists, suggesting that this perceived threat should be legislated against. “In my opinion, one cannot exclude that intelligence services of various countries can also lead Azerbaijani nationals to secret cooperation through social networks. We must not allow hostile forces to use different Internet services against us. In this matter, the danger comes not only from Armenian nationalists, but also other forces.”

A media campaign to discredit the use of Facebook followed and continues, especially after events in the Middle East and North Africa. On 1 March, for example, the online news site Qaynar.Info published the names of prominent opposition and alternative voices in Azerbaijan who had Armenian contacts and friends listed on their Facebook pages. Responses to the piece from youth activists in Azerbaijan were critical, viewing the article as a further attempt to highlight the site as an internal security threat and to portray those named as “enemies of the state.”

The following day, Rauf Mardiyev, secretary general of the IRELI Public Union, a youth organization considered by many activists to be pro-governmental and the local equivalent of the Russian Nashi, followed the same line. In a blog post titled, “The real face of 11 March,” Mardiyev highlighted the appearance of six Armenian names among the first 50 of 2,658 members signed up on the Facebook page set up by Hajiyev. Although the group was an open one, the post ended by stating that “no other comments are necessary,” with Mardiyev saying he would instead “leave it up to the conscience of readers.”

With public hostility toward Armenians high in Azerbaijan because of the festering conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, playing this card has become predictable in recent years. A household survey in 2009 by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers, for example, found that 97 percent of Azerbaijanis were against friendship with Armenians. Even so, Facebook has proved invaluable in cross-border communication in lieu of traditional means in recent years, but others have already raised concerns about how this could be used against them.

“[One activist] said if pictures of Azerbaijanis together with Armenians are found on the Internet, then they will have to go to the KGB and be questioned,” a German journalist recently wrote to this author after she visited Baku late last year.

Meanwhile, the campaign against Facebook and Twitter has even made it into the broadcast media. Last month, for example, ANS TV ran a 12-minute news item on the “dangers” of Facebook and Twitter. Although starting out neutrally enough by describing how social media can spread information worldwide, it then cut to footage of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking about net freedom before alleging that social-media tools were “dangerous” in Azerbaijan because they damage the morale of young people and could be exploited by “foreign enemies.”

To a lesser extent, following the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia the same approach has been evident in Armenia. With the opposition staging a rally to mark the third anniversary of the 1 March post-election unrest in Yerevan that left 10 people dead, the Armenian National Congress, led by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, tried to attract international attention to its cause by declaring that it, too, would stage a “Facebook revolution.” What’s more, the congress’ coordinator, Levon Zurabyan, claimed that most of the 132,000 Facebook users in the country supported the call.

Pro-government and nationalist bloggers, now referred to by the local media as “information security experts,” were quick to cast doubt on such claims by again alleging that social-media-induced revolutions were being promoted by the United States while others noted that in any case Zurabyan didn’t even use the site, so had no basis to make such claims. Besides, there had been very little activity noticeable on Facebook, with just 380 people both inside and outside Armenia signing up for the protest page. But that did not necessarily mean few would attend the rally: estimates of the turnout range between 10,000 and 50,000.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that activists’ use of social media played no role in the success of that rally, especially when compared with their more Internet-savvy counterparts in Azerbaijan. But even there, despite increased online activity, some remain unconvinced.

The protests planned for 11 and 12 March in Azerbaijan, where social media are being used extensively by activists, and another in Armenia on 17 March, where they are not, might help to further illuminate the bane-or-boon argument about these tools. Already senior members of the IRELI Public Union are attempting to support the authorities in Baku by countering information from activists in Azerbaijan on Facebook and Twitter ahead of the planned protests, and on 7 March they launched a new project to establish a network of young bloggers.

Meanwhile, as of the time of writing, Facebook is also inaccessible from Azerbaijani cellular phone operator Bakcell for the coming week for, it says, “technical reasons.” In an update on Twitter, IRELI’s Mardiyev denied this, but the decision was later confirmed by Bakcell’s customer service department. (Addition: Facebook is apparently accessible again via Bakcell)

Onnik Krikorian is the Caucasus editor for Global Voices Online and a freelance journalist and photographer in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan: Another activist arrested, questioned over Facebook

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:16:03 +0000

Following concerns that there might be an official attempt to discredit or crackdown on the use of Facebook by alternative voices in Azerbaijan comes news of the detention of yet another activist, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev. Word spread quickly on Twitter and was later verified by a report in English from Radio Free Europe (RFE).

Hajiyev, 29, a Harvard graduate and a former parliament candidate, is one of the organizers of the March 11 Facebook campaign calling for a day of protest against the government.

[...]

Hajiyev today posted on his Facebook page the following appeal to police on behalf of “a group of Azerbaijani youth:”

“We learned from the developments in the Arab world that when people demand freedom, they achieve it. We call on you to stand on the right side of history, not to resort to force against your own citizens, to build a fair, happy, and free society in Azerbaijan together with ordinary people.”

Hajiyev was detained earlier this year and charged with evading military service. He and other activists say the criminal case against him is politically motivated.

As one of seven moderators of a recently launched Facebook page calling for Egypt-style protests in Azerbaijan, Hajiyev is apparently the only one based in the oil-rich former Soviet republic. Ironically, one of those other moderators told RFE's Azerbaijan Service only a few days earlier that had he opened the page while living in Azerbaijan he would probably be arrested.

Supporters say Hajiyev's detention appears to confirm that, especially as it follows the arrest last month of another activist, Jabbar Savalan. That young activist had also made calls for Egypt-style pro-democracy protests on his Facebook page.

Azerbaijan: As protests loom, Facebook is monitored

Onnik Krikorian — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:39:30 +0000

Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have highlighted the potential use of online social networks for activism, but they have also added weight to existing personal and security concerns. In a recent interview with Radio Free Europe, for example, Evgeny Morozov even argues that internal security agencies might actually welcome the use of Facebook precisely because whole networks can be revealed and monitored. It's also an issue of increasing concern given the gradual use Facebook to encourage and maintain contacts between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the absence of traditional forms of communication blocked off as a result of the still unresolved conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

True, as a tool for online peace building, Facebook has proven its worth, but some activists in Azerbaijan have already expressed concern at how connections with contacts and friends in Armenia might be used against them. “[One activist] said if pictures of Azerbaijanis together with Armenians are found on the internet, then they will have to go to the KGB and be questioned,” a German journalist friend recently wrote after a visit to Baku, the capital of the oil-rich former Soviet republic. It's also not the first time that ‘warnings’ have been voiced by officials alleging that social network sites allow “hostile forces us to use different Internet services against us.”

Indeed, fears of the Internet among the authorities in Baku have been growing in recent years, with two video blogging youth activists, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, detained in July 2009 and imprisoned until November last year when international pressure led to their early conditional release. Few buy the government line that they were jailed for ‘hooliganism,’ of course, instead considering the action against them intended to prevent and frustrate their online activism. Amnesty International, for example, declared the two men to be prisoners of conscience and the government remains on edge about the potential for social media to foment unrest after uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Jabbar Savalan support site

Certainly, even if Facebook penetration remains low at just 3.91 percent (324,800), the authorities are taking no chances. On 5 February, for example, Jabbar Savalan, a 20-year-old activist from the opposition Popular Front, was arrested in Sumgait, a city in Azerbaijan. Charged with narcotics possession, something his supporters and lawyer strongly deny, Savalan is instead believed to have been detained due to comments he made on Facebook calling for Egypt-style protests in the country a day earlier. Amnesty International have also denounced the charges, calling them a “pretext to punish Jabbar Savalan for his political activism and to discourage other youth activists from exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

A few days later, on 9 February, another Popular Front activist, Elchin Hasanov, was also reportedly summoned to police and instructed to remove messages on his Facebook page calling for action in Savalan's support.

In that context, the publication a few days ago of an article identifying prominent activists and journalists in Azerbaijan with Armenian friends and colleagues on Facebook such as LGBT activist Mamikon Hovsepyan and peacebuilder Georgi Vanyan has concerned many. Translated into English, it might read as fairly neutral, but the original Azerbaijani is considered by native Azerbaijani speakers to be quite critical, portraying those named as “enemies of the State.”

It is no secret that a number of social networks, in particular “Facebook”, act as the force behind the processes taking place in the world today. “Facebook”, which has turned into an everyday necessity for millions, knows no borders in certain aspects. To the degree that representatives of two enemy nations and countries become friends on the site, in spite of everything.

Qaynar.info has tried to find famous Azeris with Armenian friends on Facebook. Though many of them make their friends list private, after a brief investigation it has become clear that tens of well-known Azeris are virtual friends with famous Armenian users.

Ironically, both Hovsepyan and Vanyan's reputation as two of arguably only a handful of genuine promoters of peace and tolerance in terms of relations with Azerbaijan isn't mentioned in the article, with the latter also a victim of a recent Facebook smear campaign by nationalists in Armenia.

Regardless, responses to the article from liberal Azerbaijanis on Facebook were ones of alarm, with a prominent journalist calling it “disgusting.” Others considered it as part of an ongoing campaign sanctioned by official circles to discredit the use of Facebook in Azerbaijan, while others simply responded by saying “I'm so ashamed” and “truly pathetic.” Of course, with tensions high between Armenia and Azerbaijan, comments on the article, translated here, were mixed, but some even suggested that Azerbaijani activists and journalists named should be ostracized or ‘punished.’

having read this, i am ashamed for our martyr mothers

why are these people alive? why don’t they go dig their own graves? i used to love that political scientist… i don’t know the rest of them. why do they keep such people at work? let them go work in armenia.

i have no words… they call them legal advocates? if any of them fought with these bastards for Karabakh, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. we used to respect many of these people….

On the other hand, there were other Azerbaijanis who considered the piece to be inexcusable and ‘below the belt.’

shame on you for writing such articles.

it’s really shameful. laughable. you just show how low and backwards you are with such articles.

may god protect us from “patriots” like you. just try to do what Adnan Hajizada has done for this country, then maybe you can discuss the armenians on his friends list. you are not doing anything for your country with this “patriotism”.

so apparently the country has no problems other than this? or you don’t have the courage to talk about the real problems?

The damage, of course, might already have been done even if there has been no other action taken to date. Nevertheless, the apparent intention to discredit them in the eyes of the public remains and was also used against opposition candidates ahead of parliamentary elections held in Azerbaijan last November. Now, on a blog by an activist from the pro-government Ireli Public Union, such tactics continue. In a post entitled “The real face of 11 March” the appearance of 6 Armenian names among 1,745 members ahead of actions planned are highlighted — literally.

And, although the group is an open one, and while several Azerbaijani names had also ‘liked’ the Facebook page for the Armenian opposition's own protest held on 1 March, the post ends by stating that no other comments are necessary, with the blogger preferring to instead “leave it up to the reader's conscience.”

Onnik Krikorian is the Caucasus regional editor for Global Voices Online. An earlier shorter version of this post appeared on the Peace & Collaborative Development Network.

Azerbaijan: ‘Donkey bloggers’ released

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:25:23 +0000

Two video blogging youth activists were released late this week in Azerbaijan, the oil-rich former Soviet republic. Adnan Hajizade, co-founder of the the OL! Youth Movement, and Emin Milli, co-founder of the Alumni Network (AN), were detained on 8 July 2009 after being seriously beaten while dining with a group of other civil society and youth activists in a downtown Baku restaurant.

After reporting the incident to the police, the two activists were instead detained for 48 hours and later placed in pre-trial detention. By the time of their final court hearing on 11 November 2009, Hajizada and Milli had been held in prison for over four months. Local human rights activists expressed concern about the conduct of the trial which eventually ended with a sentence of 2 years in prison for Hajizade and 2.5 years for Emin Milli.

The Presidency of the European Union, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders condemned the verdict. Amnesty International went further, however, by adopting both men as prisoners of conscience.

Despite earlier efforts to have the two men released on parole, in addition to appeals from U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, few of their supporters believed that either would be released before completing their sentences. However, in a surprise development, an appeal court ordered Hajizade's conditional release yesterday while Milli was freed earlier today.

Some international observers believe that their release is an attempt by the Azerbaijani government to deflect international criticism of parliamentary elections held earlier this month. However, on the same day that Hajizade was set free, Baxtiyar Haciyev, an activist and unsuccessful candidate for the controversial vote, was detained for so far unspecified reasons on the border with neighboring Georgia.

Whatever the reason for their release, however, both Hajizade and Milli maintain their innocence, alleging that the initial attack was planned in order to prevent them from continuing with their activities. Both men had staged a mock press conference just weeks before being arrested criticizing planned amendments to the law on NGOs and news that donkeys had been imported into the country for tens of thousands of dollars.

With Hajizade dressed for the clip in a donkey outfit, the two activists soon became known as the ‘donkey bloggers’ after their arrest. Using YouTube extensively to disseminate their video materials, when asked by RFE's Azerbaijan service if he will continue to blog, Hajizade's answer was simple. “Yes, yes,” he said as he left the courtroom, despite the conditional nature of both men's release. “Video blogging.“

A summarized chronology of events surrounding the imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli as well as the campaign for their release can be found in Global Voices’ Caucasus 2009 Blog Review.

Emin Milli (left) reunited with Adnan Hajizade (right) after their release this week. Photo via @leylanajafli.

Azerbaijan: Demonstrations for imprisoned video blogging youth activists

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:01:00 +0000

Support Adnan and Emin posts details of two demonstrations scheduled to take place outside the Embassies of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Paris, France, and London, England, in support of imprisoned video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. The two men were detained last summer and sentenced to 2 and 2.5 years in prison in what most observers consider to be a politically motivated trial.

The Presidency of the European Union, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the verdict. Amnesty International has declared both men to be prisoners of conscience. Both demonstrations will take place on 22 January and are a continuation of those held last year.

In Paris, the protest action will start at 3pm.

A 15 heures, le 22 janvier 2010, Paris participera à une série de manifestations organisées à travers le monde pour la libération des “donkey blogueurs” Adnan Hadjizadeh et Emin Milli.

Les deux jeunes vidéoblogueurs ont été condamnés, le 11 novembre 2010, par le Tribunal du district de Sabayil à Bakou, à deux ans et demi (Emin) et deux ans (Adnan) d'emprisonnement ferme pour prétendu hooliganisme.

Les blogueurs ont fait appel de ce jugement.

L'audience en appel aura également lieu vendredi prochain, 22 janvier 2010.

Tandis que les supporters d'Adnan et Emin assisteront au procès à Bakou, nous nous réunirons à Paris devant l'ambassade d'Azerbaidjan, 78 avenue d'Iena à Paris (16ème)

Rejoignez- nous en face de l'ambassade pour protester contre l’ emprisonnement arbitraire des blogueurs et appelons à leur libération immédiate.

Invitez tous vos amis.

Allons faire du bruit pour Adnan, Emin et tous ceux qui ont été punis pour avoir filmé et raconté l'injustice en Azerbaïdjan.

Meanwhile, the London demonstration will take place at 1pm.

On January 22nd, London will be part of a series of protests across the world calling for the freedom of the “Donkey Bloggers”

Join us outside the Azerbaijan Embassy to protest against the unlawful imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, and call for their immediate release.

So don your best donkey suit and invite all your friends, and let's make some noise for Adnan, Emin, and countless other unjustly imprisoned activists in Azerbaijan.

Background to the case can be found in Global Voices Online's Caucasus 2009 Blog Review and on Threatened Voices.

Azerbaijan: Bloggers sentenced

Onnik Krikorian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:29:39 +0000

As many of their supporters feared, and on the same day as a round table on the case against two detained video blogging youth activists, a court in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier passed sentence on Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli.

The verdict and first reaction spread on Twitter.

Media Helping Media quickly commented on the sentence.

According to supporters tweeting from the court, the lawyer for Hajizade, Isahan Ashurov, said the case was about power.

“Today we witness the unfair struggle of mind and physical power.” “Today we witness the unfair struggle of mind and physical power.”

[...]

Supporters have tweeted that Hajizade said the decision was built on lies.

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines also reflects on the verdict and says “this is not an end, this is only the beginning.”

Today at the end of the hearing, Emin said he is feeling proud and thats why he is ready to accept the verdict given to him. Adnan, questioned how alleged witnesses will look into the eyes of their families- we will be done with our sentences but I wonder how they are going to live a life built on lies… They both showed their strength to us, we must to the same in return.

Meanwhile, the first ever World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania, immediately issued a preliminary statement.

We, the bloggers, will promote a world in which Internet users shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and repression in any form.

The bloggers united in Bucharest at the World Blogging forum are worried about the situation in Azerbaijan and support #EminAdnan as a Free Voice of the Internet and as a member of the World Blogging Family.

Global Voices caught up with Parvana Persiani, OL! youth activist and Hajizade's girlfriend, at the conference yesterday.

More updates will be posted as of when. Meanwhile, full coverage of the detention, trial and imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

Azerbaijan: Blogger trial continues

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:15:11 +0000

In the same week that Threatened Voices, an online project to map bloggers under attack worldwide was launched, the trial of detained video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli in Baku, Azerbaijan, continued. The last court hearing was adjourned because witnesses did not turn up. Media Helping Media comments on the latest developments in what many consider to be a politically motivated case to silence dissent in the country.

The trial of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Abdullayev (also known as Milli) was adjourned ten days ago after a brief appearance by the two on hooliganism and violence charges.

[...]

Those campaigning for the release of the two men suspect that there may be political reasons behind the delays.

Media freedom groups have been protesting about the arrests and detention and claim it is part of an effort to limit freedom of expression.

Two days before the trial, Emotions on Air, Mind Mute, a newly launched English-language Azeri blog, reflected on the the case against the two young activists.

I started to intensely think about Emin and Adnan. I came to be proud of their parents,teachers and elders. I became curious about books they have read. I got jealous of friends they have, as they were lucky to know these great men personally.

Now it hurts very much that they are in prison. Their great time of lives has been stolen. Their summer has been taken away. Their parents spend sleepless nights. They have been deprived to enjoy their work, make mistakes, hang out with youth and talk to them. Their email inboxes are flooded with messages and run out of extra space.

But they keep on inspiring youth. They are hoping and planting seeds of liberty. They are spiritually free despite that their physical freedom is limited.

[...]

I think of my future now. How will it be? Will it come at all given the society I live in. Will I be arrested one day? My kids I will have.. if ever. [...]

All I know is I want them to be hooligans like Emin and Adnan.

Nevertheless, many of Hajizade and Milli's supporters remained resigned to more delays.

As it was, the hearing was held although witnesses displayed selective memories. As usual, friends and supporters of Hajizade and Milli used new and social media such as Facebook and Twitter to update others.

The fact that key witnesses and the alleged victims themselves were unable to provide testimony prompted one supporter to hope that the trial might now end.

However, although it was proven that the two activists had reported an incident of physical assault against themselves, missing key evidence soon gave many reason to fear the worst. [Update: Eurasianet has since reported that the phone records were ruled inadmissible by the judge]

Amidst criticism that the authorities are stringing out the trial indefinitely, their fears were probably well founded. Despite calling a break, the hearing was not resumed.

Yet, while the action against Hajizade and Milli looks set to continue in a trial considered by the international community and local civil society organizations to be highly flawed, perhaps the last laugh went to Hajizade and Milli's supporters who noticed the irony when the two activists were taken away.

The following day, two English-language bloggers from Azerbaijan reacted to the aborted court hearing. Both seemed pessimistic and unhappy with how the trial has been conducted to date, but nonetheless said they would continue to fight for the two men's release.

In particular, L4L shared his observations from the hearing, and specifically on the decision not to enter phone records in Hajizade and Milli's defense into court.

During today’s hearing of “Wild-beating-taekwando-champions-bloggers-Adnan-and-Emin” case I was able to enter courtroom for the first time. Mixed feelings of what was happening. I saw Emin and Adnan, saw how strong they are. And this made me happy and proud. I had dozen or so rounds of laugh in the expense of “victims” Vusal and Babek. I was annoyed as hell.

Azercell answered to enquiry of the court and gave reports on calls made on July 8 by “victims” and Adnan. [...] reports of Adnan’s calls shows that he was in the 39th police station. This little fact demolishes the case of the prosecutor. This shows that Adnan and Emin weren’t brought to police station handcuffed. [...]

[...]

Then Vusal showed that he is “real Caucasian man” with valor and strong feeling of “qeyret”. He asked judge not to give Azercell’s report on his calls to defense. “I don’t want them to disturb my relatives and those close to me”. [...] naturally, judge is “real Caucasian man” too, so he understood Vusal’s tender feelings and was with him on that.

Anyways. Amnesia. Adnan and Emin answered few questions after Vusal and Babek and they were so clear and accurate, contrast was almost scary. [...]

[...] People like Emin and Adnan who made their choice and are proudly standing by it. Who will not back off. We should help their case. Only this way this nation will shake its AMNESIA.

Meanwhile, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines remembered events to date, but also looked to the future.

Its been 4 months since Emin and Adnan's arrest- time goes by but somethings simply don't change. [...]

[...] happiness and sense of victory slowly disappeared as in July, two youth activists- Emin Milli (30) and Adnan Hajizada (26) were arrested and charged with “hooliganism” and are now facing up to 5 year of imprisonment. They didn't do anything- they were attacked by two men who are now treated as “victims” and are set free while Emin and Adnan are spending their time behind bars. But they are keeping their chin up. [...]

[...]

Looking back it makes one wonder will there ever be a change? Will people actually enjoy their lives rather than worry about making extra money to feed their families? Will our youth be able to study in corruption free universities and actually get a descent education? Will people be happy again? For now, there is only one answer, time will show so let it go by but be patient and hopefully we, or our children, or our grand children will see that change…

Incidentally, the date set for the next hearing (11 November) will coincide with a roundtable discussion on the case at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Hooliganism or Freedom of Speech? The case of two bloggers detained in Azerbaijan

On July 8, 2009, two bloggers and political activists, Andnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, were arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of “hooliganism”. The bloggers were detained shortly after posting a video on YouTube mocking the Azeri government's purchase of donkeys from Germany. After nine trials, the two bloggers (both without prior criminal records) remain imprisoned. The four presenters will form a panel discussion to speak about this particular case of the bloggers and what it means for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan as well as the greater Caucasus region.

Present for the event will be Parvana Persiani, Hajizade's girlfriend and a senior figure in the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement, who will also be attending next week's World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania.

Global Voices Online will interview her there and Persiani will also feature in a live online interview on Kosmoshow.

Full coverage of the detention and trial of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

Azerbaijan: Video blogger trial postponed… again

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:29:25 +0000

In what many consider to be a politically motivated trial to stifle dissent in Azerbaijan, video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli once again appeared in court today.

The two young activists, exemplary in their use of new media in the region, were unexpectedly detained in the early hours of 8 July after they were attacked at a restaurant in the center of Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

On the eve of yet another hearing, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines blogger Arzu Geybullayeva summed up her own feelings about the case.

Tomorrow (27th October), Adnan and Emin are going to have another hearing. Its been almost two weeks since the last one and there is still hope that they will be released. At least I want to hope so! I want to see my friends free again. I want their parents to see their sons and be proud of them. I want all of us- his friends, be honored that we have friends as them.

The following morning, L4L made a similar post albeit in a much shorter form and injected with some humor, perhaps in an effort to lift the spirits of others.

I don’t want to hear anything rational right now. I don’t want to think anything rational right now. I want them out of the jail today. Adnan still owes me few rounds of beer. So, i want them back. :)

When the trial started earlier today, supporters of the two detained activists used Facebook and Twitter to spread updates from the ground worldwide.

However, as has been common throughout the case and despite significant international outcry, many seem resigned to the fact that the authorities appear intent on dragging out the court case for as long as possible rather than see it come to a speedy end.

Support Adnan and Emin yesterday listed some of the many concerns about the trial expressed by human rights and pro-democracy organizations inside Azerbaijan.

This legal trial chaired by Araz Huseynov strikingly indicates the dependence of the judicial system on the executive power and the use of trials for political pressure on dissidents and repressions, particularly against freedom of speech, thought and self-expression.

Despite likely having already resigned themselves to more of the same, the disappointment was evident in the tweets of supporters when the hearing was adjourned less than a hour after it started.

Update: Some hours after the hearing, L4L made a promised second post reflecting on the day. The blog summed up the combination of both anger, frustration and hope that supporters of the two online activists must have felt.

Well, we all witnessed what happened today. Adnan’s and Emin’s court hearing was postponed once again [...]. One of the witnesses was missing, so judge decided that one hour of work is enough for his conscience to continue its state of sleep for another week and told tired audience of this spectacle that next hearing will be held on November 6, 2009(2009!). Seriously, case of hooliganism that is already under investigation for almost 4 months? Should we consider contacting Guinness World Records anytime soon? [...]

[...]

[...] E&A’s smile, the way they handle themselves. Dignity, positivity, courage. Love and happiness in their eyes every time they see us. The fact that they still cheer us even being behind convoy car’s bars. That makes me hopeful. That gives me strength. And I hope that our tries to cheer them up are working, that they know how much we love them and miss them. Of course, I hope that Adnan didn’t forget about 2 beers that he still owes me :)