Institute of Peace and Democracy: Azerbaijan authorities persecute political opponents under pretext of struggle against terrorism

We call your attention to the statement by the human rights department of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, Azerbaijan:

On 3 February 2004, virtually all the republican media reported that a stranger called to the US embassy at 9:40 p.m. on 28 January and said in English members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization would blow up the legation within the next few days. In spite of the presumption of innocence, some media, including Leader TV Channel, reported the phone call had been made from the flat of the Sadigov family and named their address. On 28 January, at about 11 p.m., from 20 to 25 police officers of the Nasiminsky district rushed into the flat of the Sadigov family. They searched exactly for Rasim Sadigov, without explaining why they did it. Not having found Rasim, they took away his sister, Tarana Sadigova, and brother, Djavanshir, to the police department. Tarana and Djavanshir hardly managed to prevent them from taking their old mother away to the department. At the police department, Tarana and Djavanshir were demanded to confess the phone call to the US embassy had been made from their flat. Tarana was set free in 4 hours. Djavanshir Sadigov was illegally held at the police department for 6 days (the law provides a man's detention for no more than 3 days without a court decision). He was constantly beaten with the purpose of forcing the confession from him. Djavanshir was set free at the urgent request of his lawyer.

The police keep on searching for Rasim Sadigov. Rasim Sadigov was already sentenced to three year's imprisonment for misprision in 1997, in the case of OMON (special tasks police platoon) fighters. He was listed among political prisoners. After being released, he has taken active part in all the demonstrations by the opposition. Now he continues hiding as he is afraid he will be beaten and subjected to torture if he fells into the hands of the police. We cannot prevent torture against detainees at the police departments. The Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office keep on disregarding all the appeals by international and republican human rights organizations.

The given fact once again confirms the results of investigations conducted by the Institute of Peace and Democracy, according to which since the known tragic events in the United States on 11 September, Azerbaijan law-enforcement agencies have been using versions of struggle against terrorism and Islamic extremism to deal with political opponents.