“Friend Of Journalists” Award goes to Azeri President !

The misuse of of human rights awards is also noteworthy as seen in the post by Miriam Berger of Buzzfeed who reports on 26 November that Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president has been awarded a “Friend of Journalists” prize by local media. President Ilham Aliyev received the award — his second — in an elaborate ceremony on November 24. The survey was conducted by the Azerbaijani [!] Committee for Protection of Journalists, as well as other media representatives. He won 89% of the votes. At the acceptance ceremony, Aliyev spoke of his democratic reforms in the country. “Azerbaijan has a free media,” he said. …That few inside Azerbaijan objected may be linked to the fact that many journalists and human rights defenders are in detention or harassed into silence.

Azerbaijan is awarded “Not Free” status in the Freedom House annual survey while the [real] Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 5 journalist haves been murdered in Azerbaijan since 1995. Over the past six years, dozens more have been prosecuted and imprisoned based on spurious charges for criticizing authorities. The government uses criminal and civil defamation, as well as a range of other criminal charges, to keep journalists and political opponents silenced. In 2012, 11 journalists were imprisoned on politicized charges, including treason, hooliganism, defamation, and violation of public order. So far this year, Human Rights Watch has documented at least 7 cases in which journalists have been detained or sent to prison on bogus charges, reportedly in retaliation for their critical journalism.

CPJ / Via cpj.org

 

A real award went last week to Azeri journalist Idral Abbasov: a Rory Peck Award for fearless reporting. In December, he was violently attacked while covering a story on the demolition of houses by a state-owned oil company. He was hospitalized for months

(2013 Martin Adler Prize  #rorypeckawards goes to Azerbaijan freelancer Idrak Abbasov}

Azeri President Awarded “Friend Of Journalists” Prize While Overseeing Crackdown On Journalists.