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Azerbaijan Arrests Dozens Of Aliyev Opponents Ahead Of Polls: Rights

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  • Azerbaijan Arrests Dozens Of Aliyev Opponents Ahead Of Polls: Rights

    AZERBAIJAN ARRESTS DOZENS OF ALIYEV OPPONENTS AHEAD OF POLLS: RIGHTS GROUP

    October 1, 2013 - 17:31 AMT

    PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan has arrested dozens of President Ilham
    Aliyev's opponents in a pre-election crackdown that has more than
    doubled the number of political prisoners in the former Soviet
    republic, a rights watchdog said on Tuesday, October 1, according
    to Reuters.

    The Azerbaijan-based Human Rights Club said 142 journalists, religious
    activists and human rights defenders were now being held in prison on
    political grounds, a week before an October 9 presidential election
    that Aliyev is expected to win.

    That compares with 60 prisoners the group said were being held on
    political grounds in January in Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country
    of around 9 million people.

    "The authorities seem intent on silencing all voices of criticism
    and dissent in the run-up to the election," said Rasul Jafarov,
    the group's chairman.

    It said Aliyev had been emboldened to crack down on opponents since
    the defeat of a resolution in January by the Parliamentary Assembly of
    the Council of Europe that was intended to put pressure on Azerbaijan
    over human rights.

    "Members of PACE must take action to address their failure to hold
    the Azerbaijani government accountable for these serious violations
    ... by calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners in
    the country," said Human Rights Club Advocacy Director Rebecca Vincent.

    Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim country in the South Caucasus, dismisses
    accusations of human rights abuses and says its citizens enjoy full
    democratic freedoms.

    The group added to concerns voiced by the Organisation for Security
    and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Reporters Without Borders, who
    on Monday condemned the imprisonment of prominent Azeri journalist
    and human rights activist Khilal Mamedov.

    He is serving a five-year jail sentence on charges of treason, drug
    possession and "fomenting national strife".

    Mamedov, editor-in-chief of a newspaper in Azerbaijan's southern
    ethnic-Talysh region, was arrested in June 2012. His lawyers have
    called the case against him "absurd".

    Rights groups accuse Aliyev, in power since his father Heydar's death
    in 2003, of curbing dissent and freedom of speech in Azerbaijan,
    which is criss-crossed by oil and natural gas pipelines and exports
    fuel to Europe.

    Azerbaijan's strategic location between Turkey, Russia and Iran and
    its role as a transit route for U.S. troops to reach Afghanistan have
    cushioned it from Western criticism, rights activists say.

    http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/170707/

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