IPFS News Link • Media: Radio
US-funded Radio Liberty in Azerbaijan raided
• http://thepeninsulaqatar.comProsecutors searched the offices of US-funded RFE/RL's local service, Radio Azadliq, "accompanied by armed police, saying they have a court order to shut down the office," its director Kenan Aliyev told AFP.
"Our equipment and computers are being confiscated. Journalists are being forced out of the office. Our telephone and Internet lines are down," he said.
"What happens is just part of an overall crackdown on free media in Azerbaijan."
The move came after a prominent investigative reporter working for Radio Azadliq, Khadija Ismayilova, was arrested in early December and placed in pre-trial detention for two months. Amnesty International condemned her arrest as a move to "gag free media" in Azerbaijan.
In a statement earlier this month, President Ilham Aliyev's chief of staff, Ramiz Mehdiev, accused Radio Azadliq journalists of "treason", calling them a "fifth column" working for foreign security services.
In recent months, Azerbaijani prosecutors have staged similar raids on other foreign-funded groups, including the Baku offices of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute.
Dissent in Azerbaijan is often met with a tough government response. Rights groups say authorities have been clamping down on opponents since Aliyev's election to a third term last year.