Appeal Case: May 2012
Country: Azerbaijan
Jabbar Savalan (m)
Concern:
Legal concern, Freedom of expression
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Jabbar Savalan Conscripted Into Army
University student Jabbar Savalan has been conscripted by the Azerbaijani military, despite the fact that he should be exempt from military service. Amnesty International believes he is being targeted because of his peaceful activism.
Jabbar Savalan was summoned to the military commissariat for a medical examination on April 30. Upon arrival, he was given two hours to prepare for conscription -- there was no medical examination. According to his lawyer, Jabbar Savalan is completely deaf in one ear and unlikely to pass a medical exam. He should also have been notified of his conscription 10 days in advance.
In the past few months Jabbar Savalan has given interviews to national and international media in which he was critical of the government. He has also taken part in peaceful protests; on 7 March, he and other Popular Front Party youth activists Dayanat Babayev, Majid Marjanli, Abulfaz Gurbanly and Beyim Hasanli participated in a peaceful protest calling for the release of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan. They were arrested and beaten by police.
Jabbar Savalan was first arrested on February 5, 2011, the day after he posted a call to protest against the government on Facebook. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years on fabricated drug charges, but released by a presidential pardon on December 26, 2011, after Amnesty International led an international campaign on his behalf.
Jabbar Savalan was reinstated at Sumgayit State University on February 15, after weeks of negotiation with senior university staff. He resumed his studies and attended several classes before his university informed him that he would need a document from the military commissariat to continue.
Background Information
Azerbaijani authorities have effectively criminalized peaceful anti-government protest by banning demonstrations and imprisoning those who organize and take part in them. Police use excessive force to break up peaceful demonstrations when they are not "officially sanctioned." They have threatened and intimidated human rights defenders and used legislative and administrative means to shut down and deny registration to civil society groups working for democracy and human rights.
Journalists have been beaten up and abducted, while the range of independent media outlets has been curbed through laws that ban foreign broadcasters from the national airwaves. New methods of exercising the right to freedom of expression, such as internet and social media, are also under siege. Bloggers and youth activists have been harassed and imprisoned on trumped-up charges. The government is considering ways to control and monitor internet use.
In March and April of 2011, as frustration with these increasingly tight controls grew, hundreds of people gathered in the streets demanding democratic reform and greater respect for human rights. The authorities suppressed these early signs of popular protest with a new wave of repression and intimidation. Following the protests, 14 people were convicted of organizing or taking part in the anti-government rallies. The authorities also used trumped-up charges to arrest and imprison three additional men: two members of the opposition and one human rights defender.
RECOMMENDED ACTION - Please send appeals before June 14, 2012:
- Calling on the authorities to release Jabbar Savalan from military service immediately, as Azerbaijan's military draft law exempts undergraduates from conscription;
- Calling on them to ensure that Jabbar Savalan can immediately resume his studies at university.
Appeals To:
President
İlham Aliyev
Office of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic
19 İstiqlaliyyat Street
Baku AZ1066
AZERBAIJAN
Fax: 011 994 12 492 0625
Email: office@pa.gov.az
Salutation: Dear President >
Copies To:
Ambassador
Elin Suleymanov
Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
2741 34th Street NW
Washington DC 20008
Tel: 1 202 337 3500
Fax: 1 202 337 5911
Email: azerbaijan@azembassy.us -OR- consul@azembassy.us
Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.
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