Date: 5 March, 2019

Time: 11.00 – 12:30

You are cordially invited to a press conference that will be held by Mehman Huseynov, a prominent Azerbaijani anti-corruption blogger, chairman of The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety . He was released from prison on the 2 March 2019, after serving a 2 year sentence on defamation charges after reporting torture in a detention facility. » » » »

(Znotins/AFP/Getty Images)
Washingtonpost: MEHMAN HUSEYNOV is a blogger, an activist for a free press and a journalist who has exposed uncomfortable truths about the rulers of Azerbaijan, including official corruption and police brutality. For almost two years, he has been imprisoned on bogus charges. As the end of his term approaches, the Azerbaijani police state has cooked up new charges to keep him in jail five to seven more years. Mr. Huseynov has gone on a hunger strike to protest. He must be freed and this travesty ended. » » » »

Turan: The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC) and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) have expressed their deep concern at the new charges brought against an anti-corruption Azerbaijani blogger and Chairman of the Institute for Reporters` Freedom and Safety (IRFS), Mehman Huseynov, who is currently serving the remaining two months of his two-year prison sentence. It is reported by PACE. » » » »

Turan: US Senator Marco Rubio called on official Baku to immediately release blogger Mehman Huseynov.

“Azerbaijani blogger Mehman Huseynov remains imprisoned on a trumped-up charge. Now he is in a critical situation due to a hunger strike. The government of Azerbaijan should release him immediately,” the senator wrote in his blog on Twitter.

Recall that Huseynov continues his hunger strike for the 10th day in connection with a new case brought against him about alleged resistance to the warden in the prison, where he is serving a two-year term on defamation charges against the police. » » » »

Late in the evening, the health condition of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, who was conducting a hunger strike on December 26, deteriorated sharply in the Baku SIZO-1 facility, and he was urgently sent to a prison hospital. This was announced by journalist Natig Adilov living abroad, citing sources in the Prison Service.
It was not possible to receive comments in official bodies due to the late hours of the day. » » » »

The father of blogger Mehman Huseynov, Rafig Huseynov, 66 years old, intends to join the hunger strike in support of his son.

“They don’t give me a meeting with my son. Now I have a temperature of 41 degrees. Despite this, on January 6 I will once again go to the Baku Detention Center No. 1. I am very worried about the condition of my son. If tomorrow they do not give me a meeting with him, then I will start a hunger strike,” Rafig Huseynov told Turan. » » » »

Институт Свободы и Безопасности Репортеров (ИСБР) осуждает власти Азербайджана за инициирование нового политически мотивированного уголовного дела против своего ярого критика, известного борца с коррупцией, блогера и правозащитника, а также председателя правления ИСБР Мехмана Гусейнова и немедленно призывает клептократический режим Алиевых к его безоговорочному освобождению. » » » »

A prominent anti-corruption blogger Mehman Huseynov, imprisoned since March 2017 faces new charges, solely due to his human rights work, Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) said today. » » » »

In the observance of the International Anti-Corruption Day and International Human Rights Day, the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) reaffirms its commitment to defending and promoting thesetwo of the most important pillars of a healthy and democratic society. Azerbaijan –a country recognised for its human rights abuses and widespread corruption –should be held accountable by UN and other international and regional bodies for the ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent and anti-corruption activists, IRFS said.

The Azerbaijani authorities have a long history of suppressing and punishing free speech as well any dissenting voices. The absence of freedoms in the society is directly connected to a high level of corruption, which is also the main motivation for the government to commit various crimes against its people. » » » »