The Hrant Dink Foundation bestowed the Hrant Dink Award for the third time Thursday evening in Istanbul. The award — handed out every year on Dink’s birthday, Sept. 15 — is traditionally shared between two people: one, a citizen of Turkey; the other, a foreign national.

As noted on the official Hrant Dink Award website, the award is given to “people who work for a world free of discrimination, racism, and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace and by doing so, inspire and encourage others.”

This year, independent Istanbul-based newspaper Taraf editor-in-chief and lead columnist Ahmet Altan (pictured below) was the Turkish recipient of the award.

“It’s not with joy but with shame that I accept this award. Along with Turkey’s 70 million people, I was unable to prevent Hrant’s murder. With 70 million people, I was unable to discover the real perpetrator. Accepting this award with shame, I am going to keep it as a deposit — to return it one day to the person who uncovers Hrant’s iniquity,” said Altan in his address.

Read More »Hrant Dink Award goes to Ahmet Altan (Turkey) and Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (Mexico)

General director of Teleradio Aflatun Sharifov said that the new tower is expected to launch in 20 days. The main task now is installation of necessary technical facility for this object to ensure broadcasting of Azerbaijan TV channels in the north of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as lowlands of Karabakh (Agdam, Barda and other regions).

“This work will further be made digital which will in turn help avert intervention of Armenian TV channels into the broadcasting space of Azerbaijan”, Sharifov said, Trend reports. 

Source: News.az

Read More »Azerbaijan’s IT Ministry to spread TV broadcasting to Karabakh

Britain intends to allow TV cameras into courts in England and Wales so the public can judge the judicial system’s performance.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said Tuesday he will propose legislation that initially allows broadcasts of judges’ rulings in the Court of Appeal, and then moves on to broadcasting sentences in the country’s lower courts. He did not set an effective date.

“We will work to ensure this does not hinder the administration of justice and that it protects victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors,” Clark promised, vowing to make sure the practice won’t allow offenders a chance to preen before the camera.

Source: Business Week

Read More »UK justice minister backs TV broadcasts of courts

Newspaper “Azadlig” made a statement due to continuing attacks on its website.  The statement noted that over the past two years the site of the newspaper azadliq.az was broken several times, and they had to create a new one – azadliq.info. The current site has been created in the beginning of this year, but it also was subjected to constant attacks. 

Authors of the statement believe that the cause for attacks is critical publications in the newspaper about the internal and external policies of the government.  The attack on the websites is a political order and the activity of secret services. Responsibility for this lies on the authorities, says the statement.

As a result of the attack on September 5 at 22:00 the site has been completely blocked. Currently measures are being taken to restore the site. 

The president of state likes to repeat before the international community that the Internet is free in Azerbaijan. However, the current situation clearly indicates that these are mere words. 

Source: Contact.az

Read More »Azerbaijan: Hacker attack on the site of “Azadlig” newspaper

A source close to Shahrvand-e Emrooz (Today’s Citizen) Weekly told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that on 5 September 2011 the publication was banned. According to a letter the publication’s management received, the reason for the ban is cited as Article 6 of the Iranian Press Law.

The source told the Campaign that “apparently publishing an image on the cover of the weekly was the reason for its ban.”  According to the source, in the referenced issue, there is a collage containing a picture of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the cover. According to one of the items in Article 6 of the Press Law, “publishing libel against officials, institutions, organizations and individuals in the country or insulting legal or real persons who are lawfully respected, even by means of pictures or caricatures,” is not permitted.

At this moment no further details are available for other reasons why the Press Oversight Committee banned this publication.

Source: Iran Human Rights

Read More »Iran: Reformist Weekly Banned for Publishing Image of Ahmadinejad

According to nongovernmental organization Human Rights Center, journalist of Resonance newspaper Mari Otarashvili’s notebook was inspected at Akhalgori Georgian police checkpoint.

“One of the police officers asked me what I had in my bag, I didn’t hide the fact I had a notebook in there. They asked me to turn it on and show everything inside. I protested against it initially, but then I agreed. I got off the minivan and entered the police booth together with them. I turned the notebook on; I have files like “Law on Occupied Territories” and “Strategy” (which is actually Strategy on Occupied Territories) on my desktop.”

“These are the materials that I often need when writing articles. The policemen were especially interested in the file titled “Strategy”, they told me to open it. I opened it and at the same time explained that this was a file copied from the website of Ministry of Reintegration. They read the “Strategy” with great interest and then asked me to show them the photos that I kept in my notebook. I initially refused as those were my private photos and photos that I used for my articles. But eventually I decided to show them those pics. They found the photo of Deputy Administrator of Ossetian separatists Merab Chigoev among the photos. They asked me a lot of questions about it.”.

Read More »Resonance Journalist’s Notebook Inspected at Akhalgori Georgian Police Checkpoint

Iran’s press watchdog has slapped a two-month ban on a top reformist daily, Rouzegar (Times), for anti-regime “propaganda” and publishing “state secrets,” the Tehran prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

“Rouzegar newspaper has been banned for two months” starting the same day, ISNA news agency quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying.

“The newspaper has been banned on charges of propaganda against the regime and publishing state secrets,” it added, without elaborating.

Rouzegar first appeared on newsstands on February 3, 2010 to join a half-dozen reformist newspapers which have struggled to survive anti-media repression in the Islamic republic.

The paper, along with the once-banned Etemad (Confidence) daily, enabled the reformists to launch a debate on whether to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election of March 2012.

Reformist newspapers flourished during President Mohammad Khatami’s 1997-2005 presidency, but the country’s press watchdog has since closed most titles down.

Dozens of journalists working for reformist publications have also been jailed following the government’s crackdown on mass street protests which followed the disputed June 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Read More »Iran reformist daily banned for two months: report

An RFE/RL correspondent has been deported from the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhijevan through Iran after investigating the death of a man reportedly accused of spying for Tehran, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.

Yafez Hasanov traveled to Nakhijevan on August 30 to interview family members of Turac Zeynalov, who was found dead at the territory’s Ministry of National Security after being summoned there last week. Zeynalov’s family said he was accused of “working for Iran.”

Hasanov told RFE/RL that three men in a vehicle commonly used by state security agents stopped him on the street on August 31 and told him to get in.

“When I asked who they were, they didn’t say anything. They forced me into the car, took away my passport and demanded me to switch off my mobile,” he said.
 
Hasanov said the men warned him not to report about the case since Zeynalov was “a traitor.”

He said they drove him to the border and told him to return to Baku via Iran, warning him not to return to Nakhijevan or “it would cost” him. Hasanov got a taxi in Iran and arrived in Baku on September 1.

RFE/RL is considered an illegal organization in Iran.
Read More »RFE/RL Azerbaijani Reporter Deported From Nakhijevan Via Iran

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the way that security officials in Nakhchivan – an autonomous Azerbaijani exclave between Armenia and Iran – have been harassing journalists in an attempt to impose a news blackout on a death in detention and the disappearance of four other young people who had been summoned for questioning.

“After eliminating almost all the sources of news and information, Nakhchivan’s security services are carrying out intolerable human rights abuses with complete impunity,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The few independent journalists working there are under a great deal of pressure. The death of a citizen in detention one day after his arrest and the disappearance of four other people are test for the government of Azerbaijan, which signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

“If the central government in Baku wants to demonstrate its sovereignty over Nakhchivan and it respect for its international obligations, it must immediately ensure that the media are able to operate there and it must rein in the regional authorities, who are resorting to increasingly violent authoritarian methods.”

Read More »RSF: “Authorities in Nakhchivan impose news blackout on detainee’s death”