Watchdog

UN human rights experts have condemned the increased prosecution of human rights activists in Azerbaijan and urged Baku to "reverse the trend of repression."

In a statement issued by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the experts said they are "appalled" by several incidents in which Azerbaijani officials use surveillance and interrogation to arrest and sentence rights activists "on the basis of trumped-up charges."

They said the "criminalization of rights activists must stop" and that those who have been unjustly detained be "immediately freed," including Leyla Yunus, Arif Yunus, Rasul Cafarov, and Intiqam Aliyev.

The group of experts is made up of the UN's special rapporteurs on human rights defenders (Michel Forst), freedom of peaceful assembly and association (Maina Kiai), and freedom of opinion and expression (David Kaye).

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging Iranian authorities to "immediately and unconditionally" release immediately dozens of prisoners jailed in the northern city of Karaj.

In a 59-page report released on August 19, the New York-based organization reviewed the cases of 189 people locked up in three prisons in Karaj, located 50 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran.

The group concluded that in 62 cases, prisoners had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced "solely because they exercised fundamental rights such as free speech and rights to peaceful assembly or association."

In dozens of other cases, including 35 prisoners sentenced to death on death row for terrorism-related offenses, HRW suspects "egregious due-process violations that may have tainted the judicial process."