Letter to Obama: freedom to Eynulla Fatullayev of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has wrote a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama in a bid to catch his attention amid his upcoming meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev within the framework of the 65th UN General Assembly, Eni Musvat paper reported.

The IRFS touched upon the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, signed by President Obama, describing it as a turning moment for freedom of media in the world.

“It’s particularly important to Azerbaijan where the freedom of speech remains complicated. There is no single solving of cases related to physical or moral harassment against journalists, including the 2005 killing of Elmar Huseynov,” said in the letter.

“The situation around radio-broadcasting isn’t rose-colored either. In January 2009 country’s authorities banned broadcasting of foreign media, including Voice of America, Radio of Liberty, and BBC. Defamation remains criminalized and the governing bodies continue filing suits against journalists and media,” said in the letter.

Letter’s special attention is paid towards jailed Eynulla Fatullayev and bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Gadjizadeh who are declared “prisoners of conscience” by the human rights watchdog, the Amnesty International.

The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety called for President Obama to discuss these issues with Aliev and render assistance to free Eynulla Fatullayev and bloggers, to punish Elmar Huseynov’s killers and oppose Azerbaijani authorities’ control over the Internet.