December 15, 1999
His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
VIA FAX: 011-9412-920-625
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly concerned by the Azerbaijani parliament’s December 9 adoption of a new media law that severely restricts press freedom in your country.
Although the new law formally forbids censorship, it outlines several provisions that limit the internationally-recognized right of journalists to practice their profession. The legislation:
- Orders all existing news media to register with the Ministry of Justice, rather than with the Ministry of Press and Information, while offering no recourse for outlets denied registration on political grounds.
- Empowers a new, as yet unnamed executive-branch agency to distribute broadcast licenses. The new agency will have authority to shut down broadcasters charged with violating broadcast regulations. The broadcasters, meanwhile, have been stripped of their right of appeal through the courts.
- Enables officials to file suits against journalists whose work they find “insults the honor and dignity of the state and the Azerbaijani people,” or is “contrary to the national interest.”
- Gives government agencies broad leeway to decide which journalists will be allowed to cover official events, opening the accreditation process to politically-motivated abuse and manipulation.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists devoted to defending the rights of our colleagues around the world, CPJ strongly protests these provisions, which come only 16 months after Your Excellency’s government abolished political censorship They violate all international norms of press freedom, and represent a renewed effort by your government to restrict the work of independent media in Azerbaijan.Bearing in mind your international obligations to respect press freedom, we urge you to guarantee the right of all journalists in Azerbaijan to work without interference from the state.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Azerbaijan
Send a letter to:
His Excellency Heidar Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku, Azerbaijan 370066
VIA FAX: 011-9412-920-625