13 December 2006

Alert

Provisional lift of ban on ANS TV; two newspapers resume publishing; two journalists threatened by fatwa now charged with "inciting racial hatred", remain in detention pending trial


Incident details

Rafiq Taghi ( Rafiq Taghizadh, Rafiq Tagi ), Samir Sadaght Oughlo ( Samir Sadagatoglu )

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(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has given a cautious welcome to a decision by the National Radio and Television Council (NTRC) to provisionally lift a ban on the privately-owned television station ANS TV, which resumed broadcasting on 12 December 2006. It was also announced that two independent newspapers, "Realni Azerbaidjan" and "Daily Azerbaijan", will be able to resume publishing in January.

The suspension of the ban on ANS TV means local retransmission of the BBC, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America on its FM frequency, 101.7 FM, will also resume for the time being. But ANS TV could be forced off the air again in February if the government reassigns its frequencies.

"We hail these encouraging developments, which are the result of international pressure on the Azeri government, but we fear that these concessions are just a temporary ploy by the government to appease its critics, and that a new crackdown could follow," Reporters Without Borders said.

A NTRC statement said that "thanks to the president's goodwill," ANS TV was authorised to broadcast until February, when it would be known who had been granted its frequencies, which were put up for bid. "If another media wins, ANS TV will be closed down again," the NTRC said. ANS TV was ordered to stop broadcasting on 24 November when its licence expired.

Meanwhile, Rafiq Taghi of the fortnightly "Sanat" ("Industry") and his editor, Samir Sadaght Oughlo, were charged on 11 December with "inciting racial hatred" under article 283 of the criminal code over an article entitled "Europe and Us" in which Taghi argued that European values were superior to Muslim ones. They are being held pending trial. An Iranian ayatollah issued a fatwa on 25 November calling for them to be killed because of the article.



Source:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
@rsf_rwb
 

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More on this case

President pardons five journalists; three left behind bars 2 January 2008 Appellate court ratifies prison sentence of "Senet" newspaper journalists 10 July 2007 Two independent journalists jailed for inciting religious hatred following threats by activists during trial 4 May 2007 Court extends journalists' pretrial detention 15 January 2007 Ayatollah issues fatwa calling for two journalists in Azerbaijan to be killed 5 December 2006 Newspaper editor, journalist arrested and detained, receive death threats, over article on Islamic values 20 November 2006

Azerbaijan

Authorities violently disperse peaceful rallies 22 May 2012 Opposition activist released from prison 17 May 2012 Journalist says he was tortured in prison 25 April 2012 International NGOs call on president to investigate brutal attack on prominent journalist 19 April 2012 Three journalists detained for 12 hours 28 March 2012 See all alerts: Azerbaijan


 
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