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Alert

Journalists in Nakhichevan complain of repeated harassment

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has called on the chairman of the Supreme Council (Mejlis) of the autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan, Vasif Talibov, to act to protect journalists after two correspondents complained of repeated harassment.

On 14 June 2004, Malahat Nasibova, a correspondent for the news agency TURAN and for the American station Radio Free Europe, and Mohammed Rzayev, a correspondent for the opposition daily "Azadlig" in Nakhichevan, said that they had suffered systematic harassment for the past two months.

RSF urged Talibov to guarantee the safety of the journalists and to ensure that they could work under normal conditions and free from the pressure of local authorities.

Nasibova and Rzayev say they have been threatened every time they reported on the harassment of the local opposition, whose members are regularly physically attacked and arrested by police. The journalists claim that they are routinely summoned by police after such reports or telephoned to warn them to stop covering the harassment. The journalists' families have reportedly also received threatening phone calls, cautioning them they will lose their jobs or insulting them. Nasibova says she received phone calls and e-mails warning that she risked "mourning family members" unless she stopped criticising authorities.

Nakhichevan is an autonomous republic of Azerbaijan located in an enclave between Armenia and Iran.