H. E. Ilham Aliyev
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Office of the President
19 Istiqlaiyyat St.
370066 Baku
Azerbaijan
Fax: +994 12 92 06 25/ 92 28 68

Vienna, 2 March 2005

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, condemns the assault on two journalists on 25 February 2005, and the ongoing harassment of the independent media in Azerbaijan.

According to information before IPI, on the evening of 25 February, Qanimet Zahid, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Azadliq, and Azer Ahmedli, the director of the same newspaper, were kidnapped. Reportedly, the journalists were forcibly photographed in compromising situations, beaten and threatened for publishing materials critical of the government.

The journalists were released on 26 February, after the people torturing them – three men in civilian clothing and two men in police uniforms – took their mobile phones, US$ 800 from Ahmedli and about US$ 50 from Zahid.

According to the journalists, the kidnappers have followed them before, and were well informed about Azadliq’s articles. Given the high number of press freedom violations in recent months, the de facto closure of a major independent paper, and the imprisonment of Rauf Arifoglu of Yeni Musavat and Vugar Mammedli of Hurriyyet, IPI fears that this may be part of a state-sponsored campaign against non-government media.

IPI would like to remind Your Excellency that everyone has the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that the Azerbaijani authorities should uphold this principle.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director