7 March 2005
His Excellency President Ilham Aliyev
c/o Permanent Representative to UN
E-mail: azerbaijan@un.int

Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our outrage at the murder of journalist Elmar Huseynov.

According to reports, on the evening of 2 March Mr Huseynov, the founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, was shot dead while walking up the stairwell of his building as he returned from work. Mr Huseynov had reportedly received several recent threats and was concerned about his security.

We are particularly concerned that Mr Huseynov might have been murdered because of his professional activities. Monitor has repeatedly angered officials and currently faces several lawsuits in retaliation for its critical reporting. Journalists working for the publication have faced a steady stream of harassment from government authorities. In February, military officials abducted Monitor journalist Akrep Hasanov and held him for five hours after he had exposed abuses and mismanagement in an Azerbaijani military unit.

Mr Huseynov’s murder comes amid a broad government crackdown on the media and opposition that followed the flawed presidential elections held in October 2003. Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat and deputy head of the Musavat opposition party, was arrested after the election. In October 2004, Mr Arifoglu was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of organising anti-government protests.

We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence. Such incidents foster a climate of fear that inhibits journalistic investigation and can promote self-censorship.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that a thorough investigation into Mr Huseynov’s murder is carried out and that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice. We urge you to take all steps necessary to create an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their profession without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O‚Reilly Acting President World Association of Newspapers

George Brock President World Editors Forum

cc : Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO