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Thursday, May 17, 2007

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OSCE Slams Azerbaijan For Persecuting Journalists

Austria -- Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, speaks in Vienna 24 February 2006. (OSCE/Mikhail Evstafiev)

Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE media freedom respresentative

(Courtesy Photo)

May 17, 2007 -- The OSCE's Representative on Media Freedom, Miklos Haraszti, has sharply criticized Azerbaijan for its "relentless persecution" of journalists.

Haraszti said in recent weeks his office has documented five cases of journalists being jailed for "defamation" or "incitement" for material critical of government officials.

Haraszti's comments came a day after a court in Baku on May 16 sentenced two opposition journalists to 30 months in prison for libel for an article alleging corruption in President Ilham Aliyev's family.

(AP, osce.org)

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NOT REALLY SO FUNNY: The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers asked French cartoonist Michel Cambon to produce a series of cartoons on the theme of jailed journalists to mark World Press Freedom Day (May 3). Below, RFE/RL reproduces several of Cambon's cartoons.

(WAN/Cambon)

(WAN/Cambon)