OSCE press freedom watchdog condemns sentencing of 2 journalists in Azerbaijan

On 4 May, Rafiq Tagi, a Senet journalist, and Samir Sadagatoglu, the newspaper's editor, were sentenced to three and four years' imprisonment respectively, for "incitement to national, racial and religious hatred" allegedly contained in an article published in November 2006. The philosophical essay discussed European and Islamic values.

"This is a serious violation of Azerbaijan's OSCE commitments obliging it to guarantee a free flow of information and freedom of expression," said Haraszti. "I call on the authorities to free Sadagatoglu and Tagi."

Haraszti also called on the authorities to protect the two, noting that an Iranian ayatollah had issued a fatwa calling for the two to be killed. Domestic religious activists responded by starting an intimidation campaign against the journalists. Reportedly, they were allowed to shout death threats in the court room.

"The ruling goes against the way a democratic society should handle non-conformist but peaceful opinions, even if they may offend, shock or disturb," Haraszti said.

"The trial perverts the truth by treating peaceful philosophers as extremists. In fact, it is their imprisonment that encourages extremism by surrendering to opponents of freedom of discussion."

Haraszti warned that criminalization of journalists could unleash violence against media professionals.

"The Government may think it can preclude violence by heeding to demands to punish journalists. But this logic is misleading. We saw this in 2005, when journalist Elmar Husseynov was killed after numerous indictments against him. The latest example was the brutal attack on reporter Uzeyir Jafarov, shortly after his editor, Eynulla Fatullayev, was sentenced to prison in April this year," he said.

"While Tagi's publication may have offended the religious feelings of some readers, it is inadmissible to treat such offences as criminal acts. Only actual incitement to violent ethnic or religious hatred should be criminalized. Cases like this should be dealt with in the civil law domain, if damage to actual persons occurred, or by self-regulatory media bodies, if professional ethics was violated." OSCE