Watchdog

The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) has criticized the Azerbaijani government for its use of arbitrary detentions, torture, and ill treatment of detainees in the country, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reported.

In a statement issued at the annual Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) human rights conference in Warsaw on October 6, the OMCT said the use of torture and abuse in Azerbaijan "remains widespread, in particular during arrest and interrogation sessions."

The OMCT referred to the case of Novruzali Mammadov, a journalist and human rights defender, who died in jail reportedly due to a lack of medical care.

Alexandra Kossin, the OMCT representative for Urgent Campaigns, told RFE/RL that the organization is also concerned about the seemingly arbitrary detention of bloggers Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli, arrested on charges of hooliganism in July.

Kossin added that the OMCT is closely following their case and is concerned that they were allegedly denied medical assistance.

She said the OMCT denounces their arrest because they deem it to have been politically motivated.

The OMCT statement said that in respect to political prisoners, the Azerbaijan government "practically put an end to a dialogue it had engaged in with the civil society."

Kossin added that the organization will soon launch a follow-up to the urgent appeal in their case.

Milli and Hajizada were charged with hooliganism and inflicting bodily harm in an altercation at a Baku restaurant on July 8.

Since that time they have been in detention.

The OMCT is the largest coalition of nongovernmental organizations campaigning against torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

A new animated campaign aims to raise awareness about rights abuses against those following the Baha'i faith in Iran.

The campaign, run by the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights, was the brainchild of Esra'a al-Shafei, a 22-year-old woman from Bahrain who won a prestigious award for her Internet projects from Harvard University last year.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda she said, "I created the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights because I knew that I wasn't going to be the only Muslim who believes in this. Soon we started gathering Muslims from all over the world who are speaking up for Baha'i human rights, in the name of Islam."

"If even more Muslims committed to this, Baha'is will no longer be discriminated against this widely and violence against them will cease to be justified by either governments or our societies at large," she said.

Al-Shafei said that she used animation for her campaign because “it's attention grabbing and interesting, and helps us reach our target audience better.

"We live in an age today where people are bored with content. There is a massive war of information online, and everyone is struggling to be heard and noticed, so we have to resort to creative ideas in order to ensure that some people are still listening to us.”

-- Arash Alborzi