Azerbaijan Journalist Might Face Life Imprisonment

Human rights organization Reporters Without Borders is concerned by ongoing judicial investigation against Hilal Mammadov, human rights defender and editor of the local newspaper Tolishi Sado (Voice of the Talysh), who was arrested on 21 June and could face life imprisonment.

Mammadov was charged with "large-scale drugs trafficking."

The interior minister and the public prosecutor said in a joint statement issued on July 4 that an investigation had produced evidence of espionage against Mamedov. It said he was recruited in 1992 by an Iranian intelligence officer, Abdol Ali oglu Hamzayev, to gather and pass on information.

Charged with "high treason" as well as “incitement to national, racial, social or religious hatred” he could face a life sentence and the seizure of all his possessions if convicted.

“This is quite absurd and is an indication of the growing tension between the Iranian and Azerbaijan secret services. This escalation must stop and it is intolerable that journalists and activists continue to be caught up in it in this manner. We insist that Hilal Mammadov be freed as soon as possible,” the statement of the Reporters without Borders reads.

In 2008, Novruzali Mammadov, a journalist from the same publication, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for espionage and incitement to ethnic hatred. He was declared dead in Baku prison hospital in August 2009 after being tortured.

Similar espionage charges have also been made against the young Azerbaijani writers Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizade, who have been held in Iran for the past few weeks. They could face between one year and five years in prison. They were kidnapped on 2 May in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz on their way back from a news conference in Tehran. They were first reported as missing until the authorities announced nearly a month and a half later that they were under arrest.

Media.ge