“The prison authorities are again putting pressure on the prisoner journalist Polad Aslanov so that he does not talk about prison injustice and in retaliation for supporting the political prisoner Niyamaddin Ahmedov, ” stated in a publication on October 26 on the Twitter page of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists with reference to the journalist’s wife.
CPJ notes that prison officials are trying to isolate Aslanov by putting physical pressure on inmates who are in contact with him and putting them in solitary confinement.
According to the journalist’s wife, the authorities continue to postpone the consideration of the appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court without giving any reasons.
The journalist’s wife also pointed out that the prison authorities did not provide the necessary medical care for diseases, including complaints of the heart and kidneys, as well as serious dental problems, CPJ notes.
The journalist’s wife, Gulmira Aslanova, told Turan that CPJ’s statements are based on information she provided some time ago. According to her, the pressure on her husband has now been stopped.
Moreover, on October 25, she was received by the head of the operational-regime department of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice, Mirsalekh Seidov, and on the 26th, by the deputy head of the Main Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Justice, Iftikhar Guryanov.
G. Aslanova said that she was told that in the near future her husband would undergo echocardiography, ultrasound of internal organs, take blood samples for analysis, and also examine the teeth.
According to G. Aslanova, she was told that, if necessary, the journalist could be admitted to a dentist attracted by the family.
At the same time, she noted that she did not have information about the reasons for the delay in the consideration of her husband’s cassation appeal, although 9 months had already passed since the decision of the court of appeal.
Together with G. Aslanova, the aforementioned persons also received the wife of another arrested journalist Afgan Sadigov, Sevinj Sadigov.
“Afgan’s health is on the mend after months of hunger strike. But, I was told that he should be treated for another 4 months (in the hospital of the Penitentiary Service),”S. Sadigova said.
* The editor of the website xeberman.com Polad Aslanov was sentenced on November 16, 2019 to 16 years in prison on charges of treason in favor of Iran.
Reporters Without Borders and other human rights organizations called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Polad Aslanov.
* Head of Azel. TV Afgan Sadigov was arrested on charges of extortion through threats in May this year. On November 3, 2020, the court sentenced him to seven years in prison. Since November 4, he went on a hunger strike in protest, considering the sentence unfair. On January 28, the Appellate Court reduced the sentence to 6 years in prison. Local human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner.
On July 2, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan partially satisfied the cassation appeal of Afgan Sadigov. The court reduced his sentence from 6 to 4 years in prison. After that, at the agreement of family members, he stopped the action.