Watchdog

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks has harshly criticized Azerbaijani authorities over deteriorating human rights and basic freedoms in the country.

Talking to RFE/RL by phone from Strasbourg on April 22, Muiznieks said nothing had been done by Baku to improve the situation around freedom of speech, freedom of gatherings and associations, and ownership rights in Azerbaijan.

Muiznieks cited several cases where Azerbaijani journalists and bloggers critical of the authorities had been jailed, persecuted, or humiliated.

He criticized existing defamation laws that critics say are often used to clamp down on dissent.

Muiznieks also expressed concerns regarding the jailing of Anar Mammadov, the leader of an independent election-monitoring group, and opposition leaders Ilqar Mammadov and Tofiq Yaqublu.

Muiznieks spoke to RFE/RL before releasing an updated report on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

Pakistan's Defense Ministry has requested the country's top-rated television station be closed after the station alleged that Pakistan's intelligence agency was behind the attempted killing of a leading journalist.

The ministry wrote to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority late on April 22 asking that it cancel the broadcasting license of Geo television.

The ministry complained about broadcasts on Geo that alleged that the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency was connected to an assassination attempt on the station's popular talk-show host, Hamid Mir.

Mir was shot three times while in his car on April 19 and is currently recovering in a hospital.

The New York-based watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists posted a copy of the Defense Ministry's letter on its website that accuses Geo of launching "a vicious campaign, libelous and scandalous in nature."

Based on reporting by AFP and AP