American Senator: Azerbaijan cannot be part of Western community of democracies
United States Senator from Illinois, Richard Durbin, came up with an appeal to the US President Barack Obama raising the issues of the crackdown on human rights activists in Azerbaijan. The text of appeal is posted on the Government Printing Office (GPO) website.
Citing an editorial of The New York Times, the Senator writes that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is able to convince the world that he plays nice with the West while creating one of the worst human rights records at the same time.
“Aliyev wants the world to believe that Azerbaijan is a model country that promotes moderate Islam, has strong relations with the West, and is an ideal host for the upcoming European games, yet it currently holds more political prisoners than Russia and Belarus combined,” Durbin writes adding that at the end of 2014, just weeks after the arrest of one of the country's best known investigative reporters, Khadija Ismayilova, “Aliyev's henchmen brazenly raided” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty offices in Baku.
Mr Durbin reminds that in August 2014, he, along with Senators Cardin and Murphy sent a letter to President Aliyev expressing their concern over the imprisonment of Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli, the chair and the executive director of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center. Recently, Bashir was finally released but his colleague Anar remains behind bars. Just prior, police arrested Leyla Yunus, the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy. The very next week, the police followed up by arresting her husband, Arif Yunus; fellow activist, Rasul Jafarov, a human rights defender and chairman of the Human Rights Club; and Intigam Aliyev, the country's most prominent human rights lawyer and the 2012 winner of the prestigious Homo Homini Award for his work defending the rule of law in Azerbaijan.
The Senator also cites Ismayilova’s letter, published by the Washington Post where she states that the reason she is in prison is because of the regime's corruption and vows to continue to expose that corruption. Less than a week later the Azeri government suddenly called for a closed-door trial and found her guilty of criminal libel.
Mr Durbin stresses that this is just a snapshot of the many brave Azerbaijanis or organizations facing trumped-up charges or imprisonment for simply exercising basic political freedoms.
“To them, I say, the world is aware of your plight and courage. And to President Aliyev, I urge you to release your own people whose only offense has been to ask for a peaceful democratic Azerbaijan. You cannot be a part of the Western community of democracies while violating its core democratic principles,” the Senator writes adding that he will continue to draw attention to their plight and work for their release, along with his colleagues in Congress and their countless advocates around the world.
Related:
The New York Times: Aliyev resembles Corleone brothers from ‘‘Godfather’’ mafia family
Arrested Azerbaijani activists are in spotlight of international press
AZAD: Washington must impose sanctions on Azerbaijani officials beginning with highest ones
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