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Thursday, August 27, 2009


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Applebaum Cites RFE/RL-Sponsored Afghan Debate 

Anne Applebaum, writing for the Washington Post and Slate, discusses the elections in Afghanistan, the Taliban's violent intimidation tactics, and the importance of Radio Free Afghanistan in the country. More
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Another Independent Kazakh Newspaper Faces Closure 

BTA bank has filed charges against the newspaper

August 26, 2009
ALMATY -- The independent Kazakh weekly "Respublika" is facing closure after a bank announced it was filing charges against it, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

"Respublika" editors and correspondents told journalists in Almaty on August 25 that the recently appointed management at the BTA bank filed a lawsuit against the paper, accusing it of printing false information about the bank's activities.

Bank officials are demanding more than $530,000 from the newspaper as compensation for "moral damage."

The editors at "Respublika" have said the lawsuit is politically motivated, and that they could not afford to pay the fine if the court rules in favor of the bank and that the newspaper would have to be shut down.

"Respublika" lawyer Sergei Uktin told RFE/RL that the judge has refused his request to hold a formal examination by experts of the articles in question.

Last week the Kazakh opposition newspaper "Taszharghan" announced its likely closure caused by the inability to pay similar compensation for the "moral damage" it allegedly caused to a parliament member.
 
 
 

Jehovah's Witness Arrested In Baku For Refusing Military Duty 

August 26, 2009
Mushfiq Mammadov, a conscientious objector to military service in Azerbaijan, has been detained for refusing to perform compulsory military service.

Mammadov, who is a member of the Christian group Jehovah's Witnesses, is reportedly being held in the Kurdakhani isolation center and has not been given a lawyer.

Mammadov was once detained in 2006 and given a six-month suspended jail term on the same charges.

Although Azerbaijan's Constitution guarantees the right to alternative service, no program exists for pursuing such an option.

Mammadov was detained on August 10 and sentenced one day later, even though the Interior Ministry says it has no information about the arrest.

Human rights defenders are calling on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release Mammadov and move torward adopting a law on alternative military service.

Azerbaijan has pledged to the Council of Europe that it will adopt such legislation. The UN Human Rights Committee has also urged that such a law be passed.

Article 76 of the Azerbaijani Constitution recognizes that those who cannot perform military service on the grounds of their conscience are to be offered alternative service.
 
 
 

Kazakh Activists Rally In Support Of Jailed Journalist 

Ramazan Esergepov being escorted by police to the courthouse in Taraz on August 8.

August 26, 2009
Activists in Kazakhstan have started an action to support jailed journalist Ramazan Esergepov, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

The organizers of the action told RFE/RL that supporters in all of the country's regional capitals have handed letters addressed to Kazakh National Security Committee (KNB) Chairman Amangeldy Shabdarbaev demanding an explanation for what they called the abuse of Esergepov's civil rights.

In Almaty, the activists handed 60 such letters to the city's KNB Department.

Esergepov, the editor in chief of the weekly newspaper "Alma-Ata Info," was found guilty of releasing state secrets last year and sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month.

His colleagues say the charges against him are politically motivated.

The independent weekly -- which Esergepov founded -- has been closed down.
 
 
 

Jailed Azerbaijani Bloggers Face Additional Charge Video

Adnan Hajizade (left) and Emin Milli

August 25, 2009
Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada, arrested last month on charges of hooliganism, have also been charged with assault, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

The youth activists' attorney, Isaxan Ashurov, told RFE/RL that the charge was filed on August 21 at the end of the investigation into a July 8 incident in which the two were involved in a dispute at a restaurant in Baku.

The rights activists initially called the charges "fabricated" and refused to be interrogated by police.

Ashurov says that Qanimat Zahid, editor in chief of the opposition newspaper "Azadliq," was imprisoned for four years in 2007 on the same charges.

Milli and Hajizada were reportedly dining with friends in the restaurant when they were approached by two men who said they were offended by their conversation. The men then began hitting the activists.

All four were detained by police, but the unidentified men were released.

Milli, a member of the youth opposition group Alumni Network, and Hajizada, a member of the opposition group OL, remain in pretrial detention.

International organizations and some Western politicians have called for their release, saying that the incident is directly related to the bloggers' political activities.

A few days before the incident, OL put a video on YouTube, Facebook, and other websites showing a person dressed as a German donkey immigrating to Azerbaijan and praising the opportunities and rights that Azerbaijan offers donkeys.

But a question superimposed at the of the video asks, "What about the people's rights?"

The video (see below) was posted in the wake of an official report that the Azerbaijani government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars importing a dozen donkeys in a deal that may have masked corruption or the theft of public funds.


 
 
 

Kyrgyz Rights Activists Concerned Over Jailed Opposition Leaders 

Erkin Bolokbaev

August 25, 2009
A Kyrgyz human rights activist says three opposition leaders are being abused and have had their lives threatened in jail, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Kylym Shamy (Torch of the Century) NGO leader Aziza Abdyrasulova told RFE/RL that the lives of opposition politicians Erkin Bolokbaev, Sapar Argynbaev, and Uran Ryskulov are being threatened.

Abdyrasulova recently met with the politicians at a Bishkek detention center. She says the politicians' relatives were told that the politicians would be killed by criminals in jail unless a sum of $25,000 is paid for each man.

Bolokbaev, Argynbaev, and Ryskulov were detained in April in the wake of ethnic tensions in the Kyrgyz town of Petrovka after the alleged rape of a 4-year-old Russian girl.

The three were accused of organizing mass disorder. Human rights activists say the case is politically motivated.

Abdyrasulova told RFE/RL that rights activists sent letters to Kyrgyz authorities to intravene in the situation of the imprisoned politicians.
 
 
 

Former Chancellor Of Tehran University Arrested 

Mohammad Maleki

August 24, 2009
A former chancellor of Tehran University has been arrested, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Mohammad Maleki, 76, was reportedly recovering from a serious illness at his home when he was detained. About 80 of his books and personal documents were also confiscated.

The reason for his arrest and the charges against him are unclear.

Maleki's wife told Radio Farda that one of the security officers who arrested Maleki said he is being imprisoned because of his alleged ties to the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, or MKO).

Maleki, a national religious activist, was appointed chancellor of Tehran University after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In recent years he has been arrested several times and jailed. He was also jailed when the Shah of Iran was in power.
 
 
 

Russian Rights Activists Mark 40th Day After Estemirova's Slaying 

Natalya Estemirova

August 24, 2009
Human rights activists in Russia are commemorating their former colleague Natalya Estemirova today, the 40th day after she was abducted in Grozny and killed by her kidnappers, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Commemoration events are scheduled in several Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Lev Ponomarev, the head of the For Human Rights movement, told RFE/RL that despite President Dmitry Medvedev's personal order to the Prosecutor-General's Investigation Department to find those behind her murder, he believes it is unlikely the culprits will ever be found.

Ponomarev said some Russian human rights organizations have officially demanded that Medvedev suspend Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov while the investigation is under way.

Kadyrov expressed a negative attitude toward Estemirova and her work in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL conducted after she was killed.

Estemirova worked for the Grozny branch of the human rights center Memorial.

Memorial's branch in Grozny was closed after her death.
 
 
 

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About This Blog
"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.
 
 
 
 
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Journalists In Trouble

RFE/RL journalists take risks, face threats, and make sacrifices every day in an effort to gather the news. Our new "Journalists In Trouble" web page recognizes their courage and conviction, and documents the high price that many have paid simply for doing their jobs. More

 
 

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