Sweden: Sport for Rights' Open Letter to the Swedish National Olympic Committee
Letter from the Sport for Rights Campaign, which OMCT is a member of, to the Swedish National Olympic Committee on Azerbaijan.
'Sport for Rights' campaign has been established to raise the problem of political prisoners in the context of the forthcoming international sporting events to be hosted by Azerbaijan.Mr
Stefan Lindeberg
President
Swedish
Olympic Committee
Sofiatornet Olympiastadion
114 33 Stockholm
Sweden
21 May 2015
Dear
Mr Lindeberg,
We
are writing to you as part of the Sport for Rights campaign, a coalition of
international organisations working to draw attention to the human rights
situation in Azerbaijan in the context of next month’s European Games. As you
know, the Azerbaijani authorities have been carrying out an unprecedented human
rights crackdown, working aggressively to silence all forms of criticism and
dissent.
We
wanted to thank you for your comments on 30 April, in your interview to Aftonbladet newspaper, when you stated “It is difficult to keep sports and state governance apart, but for us
sports is the core. We do not support Azerbaijan. It is a regime that is not
living up to standards. But we stand behind the fundamental idea of sports,
which is to keep doors open rather than to close them”. We also appreciated you
expressing concern about reports on restrictions of press freedom in the
country.
Your
comments have come at a critical time, when too many officials connected to the
European Games are all too willing to turn a blind eye towards human rights
abuses in Azerbaijan, and in some cases, actively help the Azerbaijani government’s
attempt to whitewash its image. We have been using your remarks as a positive
example, encouraging representatives from other National Olympic Committees
across Europe to publicly support human rights in Azerbaijan.
We
are writing to you now with an additional request. As you may know, the
crackdown has resulted in the arrests of dozens of political prisoners,
including eight journalists and human rights defenders. They have been targeted
for their work defending the rights of others, and telling the truth about the
situation in their country. We urge you to take the opportunity now, in the
last few weeks before the Games, to publicly call for the release of these
individuals. We have provided a list as an appendix.
Thank you once again for your attention to our issues and your
support for our jailed colleagues in Azerbaijan.
Sincerely yours,
(see pdf for signatories organisations)
APPENDIX: LIST OF JAILED
JOURNALISTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Jailed
journalists:
- Nijat Aliyev – editor-in-chief of the
website azadxeber.az, serving a 10-year prison sentence on spurious
charges of drug possession and the illegal import and sale of religious
literature.
- Araz Guliyev – editor of the website
xeber44.com, serving an eight-year prison sentence on spurious charges of
illegal possession of weapons, inciting hatred, and offensive action
against the flag or emblem of Azerbaijan.
- Parviz Hashimli – Bizim Yol newspaper reporter and editor of the moderator.az
website, serving an eight-year prison sentence on spurious charges of organising
the sale of weapons from Iran.
- Seymur Hezi –Azadliq newspaper reporter and presenter of the Azerbaijan
Hour satellite television programme, serving a five-year prison sentence
on spurious hooliganism charges.
- Khadija Ismayilova – Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty journalist detained on spurious charges of embezzlement, illegal
entrepreneurship, tax evasion, abuse of power, and inciting someone to
attempt suicide.
- Hilal Mammadov – editor-in-chief of Tolishi Sedo newspaper, serving a
five-year prison sentence on spurious charges of drug possession, treason,
and inciting hatred.
- Rauf Mirkadirov – Zerkalo newspaper columnist, detained on spurious treason
charges, awaiting trial.
- Tofig Yagublu – Yenu Musavat newspaper columnist, serving a five-year prison
sentence on spurious charges of organising mass riots and using violence
against police officers.
Jailed
(and effectively jailed) human rights defenders:
- Intigam Aliyev – human rights
lawyer and Chairman of the Legal Education Society, serving a 7.5-year prison
sentence on spurious charges of tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and
abuse of power.
- Emin Huseynov – Director of the
Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, trapped at the Swiss Embassy
in Baku, facing arrest on spurious charges of tax evasion, illegal
entrepreneurship, and abuse of power.
- Rasul Jafarov – Chairman of the
Human Rights Club, serving a 6.5-year prison sentence on spurious charges
of tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of power.
- Anar Mammadli – Chairman of the
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Centre, serving a 5.5-year
prison sentence on spurious charges of tax evasion, illegal
entrepreneurship, and abuse of power.
- Arif Yunus – historian and
academic, detained on spurious charges of treason and fraud, awaiting
trial.
- Leyla Yunus – Director of the
Institute for Peace and Democracy, detained on spurious charges of
treason, fraud, forgery, tax evasion, and illegal entrepreneurship,
awaiting trial.