Blog #10 Azerbaijani Human Rights Lawyer Convicted and Sentenced to 7.5 Years in Prison

April 22, 2015, an Azerbaijani court sentenced Intigam Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s leading human rights lawyer, to seven years and six months in prison on what are questionable charges. 

Aliyev was convicted on what Baku’s Grave Crimes Court says are the following “politically motivated” charges: tax evasion, illegal business activities, embezzlement, or the misappropriation of funds, and abuse of authority. On April 16, 2015, the same court sentenced Rasul Jafarov, another human rights defender, to 6.5 years on similar charges.

Giorgi Gogia, who according to the article is the senior South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch, explains that Aliyev is Azerbaijan’s key figure in human rights advocacy. If this conviction and sentencing isn’t lifted, it would mean that future victims of human rights abuse in Azerbaijan have lost one of their strongest advocates.

Aliyev is a lawyer and chair of the Legal Education Society, which disputed human rights cases in domestic courts. He was one of the first Azerbaijani lawyers to bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights and has also trained the republic’s human rights lawyers. In August 2014, Azerbaijani authorities confiscated the group’s computers and documents and shut down its office. In addition to Aliyev’s arrest, authorities have started applying a new series of what seem to be extremely restrictive laws on nongovernmental organizations, including requiring a government license of foreign donor organizations and government speculation of grants awarded. Authorities have also frozen bank accounts of over 50 groups, and in some cases accounts of individual staff members.

Human Rights Watch argues that the charges are politically motivated, and mock what was once an acceptable justice system before Aliyev’s arrest. I agree; if his position of human rights advocacy is so great and influential, then he would represent a problem in the eyes of more controlling authorities. However political motivation charges aren’t new, this kind of corruption has been around for years. What’s more disturbing is that Aliyev is in fact one of the leading human rights advocates in the area, and without his guidance a stream of cases will be left defenseless. A worse possibility is if other strict governments follow this example, and we start to see a decline in cases of human rights being disputed. 

Read the article here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/22/azerbaijan-human-rights-lawyer-convicted

Salwa Majeed

04/24/2015

11:48 PM

Blog 10 Kidnapped!

I find it amazing that In America, we have a many people in lack of the basics needs but in other countries sever poverty is real. There are many children, women and men that go days without food, water and shelter. This not only breaks down their community and in time loses their culture but it also spreads infectious diseases in turn affecting many more people. In this article, kidnappers killed a Nigerien health worker.  BEFEN and Health alert announced that five health workers were freed in Niger Saturday but their friend and coworker Aime Soulembaye died after being shot during the kidnapping. They were kidnapped on October 14th from Dakoro, a town in southwestern Niger. Although the identities of the kidnappers have not been confirmed, they are suspected to have been Islamist extremists that have kidnapped other aid workers before. In previous cases they took them to Mali to be held for a ransom. The tragedy comes in when the reasons for taking theses men were to of ill intentions due to the work they do. Soulambye and the others had helped more than 20,000 children and families with malnutrition and malaria in Niger. Later in the weekend, the kidnappers were caught but while still holding another set of hostages so the army was placed in a critical position. Kidnapping seems to be a major issue across the globe with the common goal of looking for a ransom. Sadly, they are taking people who are actually making difference in our world. To combat this issue a sense of security should be put in place in every country. ON another note, this malnutrition that they were working towards bettering needs to get better.  I know the United Nations out into place the millennium development goals, which included eradicating poverty and world hunger. Although I don’t see this being done by 2015, the efforts toward reaching it are a start.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/11/03/niger-aid-group-kidnappers-kill-1-release-5

Blog #10 Drug Traffickers go under water

A crack down on drug trafficking has been a priority to board authorities such as the Coast Guard across the Caribbean Sea. The constant drug war has caused innovations of new ways to transport drugs. Recently it was discovered that a submarine was transporting several tons of cocaine. These submarines are built in the jungles of South America to help transport narcotics between the United States and Latin America. These submarines are capable of carrying up to 10 tons of cocaine. Authorities are very worried about these new forms of transportation because normally drug traffickers would use speedboats or fishing boats that are easy to spot and they are able to carry fewer drugs but with submarines it is harder for them to detect and see under water. This not only raises caution to the on going drug wars but also to terrorist attack. These submarines are able to carry or transport attackers or weapons. It seems that authorities cannot out smart the criminals behind these illegal activities. Once it seems like we have found a solution to deter these criminal acts there is a new innovation or ideas that makes it harder to control these criminal acts. Our military intelligence and authorities must continue to work with other countries and continue to fight against these criminal acts to protect all countries. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/americas/drug-smugglers-pose-underwater-challenge-in-caribbean.html?ref=americas&_r=0