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IFEX HOLDS INTERNATIONAL FREE EXPRESSION CONFERENCE IN AZERBAIJAN

Journalists, human rights activists and representatives of more than 80 organisations are gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan, this week for one of the most important international conferences on freedom of expression.

The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) General Meeting brings together members of the world's largest network of press freedom and free-expression groups for a six-day conference from 13 to 18 June 2004.

Hosted by the Baku-based Journalists' Trade Union (JuHI), the meeting is examining the most pressing issues facing free expression today, including Internet censorship, anti-terrorism laws and journalists' safety.

Members of IFEX are looking at new obstacles facing groups in developing countries and share creative ways of strengthening free expression. IFEX members from conflict-ridden countries are also sharing expertise on monitoring free expression violations, organising advocacy campaigns and developing regional networks.

"The IFEX conference offers a vital opportunity to develop new strategies for defending free expression all over the world - including Azerbaijan and other countries in the region where abuses occur," says Ann Cooper, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an IFEX member. "This meeting is essential for all of us who work to defend the free speech rights of all people, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

In the run-up to the conference, CPJ has voiced concerns that two journalists based in Moscow, Russia, may not be able to attend the meeting because of restrictions placed on their movements. Both have been invited to the IFEX conference.

CPJ says the Russian Federal Security Services has failed to approve a foreign passport application for Grigory Pasko even though the journalist filed the application on 14 April 2004. Russian law requires that applications be processed within one month. "I would very much like to attend the IFEX conference, but without a [foreign] passport, I am stranded [in Moscow]," says Pasko.

Pasko was released on parole in January 2003 after serving two-thirds of a sentence on charges of attempting to leak state secrets. He had intended to report on the Russian navy's dumping of nuclear waste into the Sea of Japan.

Meanwhile, exiled Azeri journalist Irada Huseynova faces criminal defamation charges if she returns to Azerbaijan. Besides wanting to attend the IFEX conference, she needs to renew her passport, which expires in June. The charges against her stem from an article she wrote for the independent weekly "Bakinsky Bulwar" in June 2001, which criticised the policies of Baku's mayor. CPJ has conveyed its concerns to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

Read CPJ's letters on Pasko and Huseynova:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2004/Russia04june04na.html
http://www.cpj.org/protests/04ltrs/Azer02june04pl.html
To find out more about what IFEX does, see:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/263
For more information about the IFEX General Meeting in Baku, contact: ifex@ifex.org