Azerbaijan continues to embarrass itself, and it is no longer funny

Few days ago, I received news that renowned British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will represent the case of Khadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan’s unlawfully jailed top investigative reporter at the European Court of Human Rights. Clooney together with Nani Jansen from the Media Legal Defense Initiative will act as Co-Council for Khadija and challenge the government of Azerbaijan on the grounds that Ismayilova’s extended pre-trial imprisonment violates the European convention. 

I was thrilled by the news. But I also knew that very soon pro government mouthpieces in Azerbaijan would start labeling Clooney and Jansen “Armenians” trying to damage the country’s international image as a country of tolerance, justice and thriving democracy. I also feared this would have an impact on my friend’s case. 

It didn’t take long before the theatrics unfolded. Trend.az, one of many puppet media outlets in Azerbaijan said, “A. Clooney is of Armenian dissent and represented Armenia before Swiss, Armenian, French and European Court of Human Rights on ‘Armenian genocide’. All the while “forgetting” to mention that Amal Ramzi Alamuddin was born in Beirut and that she moved to London together with her family during the civil war in Lebanon. 

Some of Amal Clooney’s high profile cases include WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Yuliya Tymoshenko, and Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy- one of three Al-Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt and sentenced to 7 years. 

But the story on Trend.az does not mention any of that, nor did Azernews.az or many other outlets. “So, deeply committed to anti-Turkic ideals Amal Clooney now has taken to Azerbaijan, first to prove her loyalty to Armenian lobbyists and second, to undersign another big case without caring who wins”, bashed the article on Azernews. 

Refraining from bashing but sticking to Clooney’s work on the case of Armenia was also brought up in another local paper 525.az. 

This kind of slander is not uncommon in Azerbaijan. Often critics of the government get labeled various kinds of names and affiliations ranging from being Western agents to spies and last but not least traitors. Everyone who is critical of the government at home or abroad is an Armenian. In my recent piece for Open Democracy I tried illustrating how desperate the authorities in Azerbaijan are to cling to this naïve if not ridiculous accusation each time the country’s deteriorated democracy, human rights or freedom of expression record is spotted and criticized. 

So why continue sticking to this nonsense and endure embarrassment even further? This is merely a sign of weakness and inability to state facts indicating fragility not only of the whole system on which the government of Azerbaijan operates but also how biased if not completely feeble its apologists, media and advocates are. 

In the meantime, the European Court decided to prioritize two more of Khadija’s cases- the violation of privacy [secret camera footage] and the failure of the authorities to properly investigate and prosecute- according to Media Defense Initiative. 

Khadija also confirmed that prominent human rights lawyer will represent her case at the ECHR. Speaking to her lawyer Fariz Namazli Khadija said she agreed to Clooney’s offer because of her “courage” while defending Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy in 2014. 

Khadija Ismayilova was detained on December 5, 2014. Her original charge was her involvement in allegedly pushing a man to attempt suicide. But absurdity of these charges was so clear that even the authorities knew they could not keep Ismayilova in jail for long on this bogus accusation. After extending Ismayilova’s detention by additional two months, she was charged with a series of new “economic charges” ranging from tax evasion, to abuse of power and illegal entrepreneurship. In September 2015 Ismayilova was sentenced to 7.5 years in jail. 

But there was no attempt to suicide, nor were there any economic violations, these charges were the byproduct of the wild imagination of Azerbaijani officials afraid of Khadija’s work exposing government corruption in this small oil rich country. 

Perhaps, it is not surprising then that it is this wild imagination that keeps the country’s officials detached from the reality, stuck in a world of conspiracy theories and made up enemies all the while sticking to what they know and do best- humiliate, intimidate and silence.

Turns out not only they are fake but they are also aggressive

They can also beat you up, or break your camera or attack you with a broken bottle as we saw outside Khadija Ismayil's trial today (August 7). The absurdity of it all is unexplainable, I cannot put in words how bizarre all of this is. 

So remember the fake court attendants? Well turns out they are not so fake after all. They are listed in the directory of the court and get called in to "attend" the trials of those defendants whose hearings are likely to be quickly filled up with friends and colleagues. 

I remember attending the hearing of N!DA activists when I was in Baku. I also remember attending several times the hearing of the donkey bloggers. The rooms were almost always full with friends, colleagues, diplomatic staff and so on. 

People would cheer for the defendants, somehow raising their spirit I suppose or perhaps to comfort themselves - I did, I was happy to see them all alive each time, see them smile and wave at every familiar face they saw at the court. It is such a different world that it is also very hard to put down in words.

But this time it is all very different. 

Just like it was during the hearing of Leyla and Arif Yunus, many of the people who actually knew Khadija were left outside the court, waiting. 

One of the local journalist, former political prisoner himself said he was familiar with this phenomenon of fake attendants. They are on speed dial and often are invited to fill out the seats. They are also paid a dismal amount of 5 to 10AZN.

So when a group of these fake attendants were caught on cameras leaving the court room instinctively the local reporters jumped on the opportunity to ask who they were. After all, perhaps it was possible that Khadija had some very very very very distant relatives even she herself didn't know existed?! 

Turns out they were not the distant relatives nor were they in the mood for much talking. In fact a few of them were unhappy. So unhappy that they were ready to beat the crap out of the reporters who approached them in the first place asking questions about who they were and where they were coming from. 

Eventually one had his camera broken, the other almost had the same but managed to save himself. 

The optimist in me wants to think they were angry not because they were asked questions but because they were so deeply disappointed with the show trial and how badly it was organized that they just couldn't handle the anger and simply had to burst out at the journalists. But we all know this is not the case. 

Today we saw that our people are ready to sell themselves for some petty cash, sit in a court of a person they don't know, snap and yell at journalists they don't know and then get to walk away freely as if nothing happened and as if it was not a human life that they just watched the whole day inside that court room get unjustly accused of the crimes she never committed.  

I guess Aliyev deserves real pat on the shoulder for achieving this almost robot like thinking and the enmity of people towards each other. It is his way of ruling that forces people to the extremes and these fake attendants are just one example.

As for us, outside observers, all that is left is to watch, bite our nails and pointlessly yell at our screens as we watch yet another innocent life get silenced for truth.

And the winner in the category of ass kissing in these European Games is...

Ali Hasanov and his wife are a match made in heaven. No no, I wont be talking about their love life - disgusting. But I will talk about their "blinded love" for their "Aliyev God". Their fanatic behavior has no boundaries.

Why? Well because it is only the lowest of the low like them (and pretty much every other official working for this government) who can republish Khadija's letter written from prison and published in the New York Times on the eve of the European Games in a "slightly" readjusted wording.

In this so called letter from prison to the editors at the NY Times Khadija writes that she has been instructed by the US and that she is part of a large scale anti-Azerbaijan campaign. That she is in jail for her crimes and etc. 

But this is not surprising at all.

You see, Aliyev's minions, have done a lot to the journalists, activists, rights defenders and advocates in this country. Readers of this blog know by now well about it. From intimidation, to beating, to threats, to slander and defamation to even blackmail with sex tapes and last but not least arrests, and murder.  

But there is always room for progress. Ali Hasanov's wife, a woman of many faces, one of which calling herself an editor-in-chief of some cheap online portal publication did her best and will now get a bright golden star from President Aliyev, or from her husband, or perhaps she wont get anything at all as this line of work is part of her duties.

As if this cheap and dirty attempt was not enough, News.az- another ass kissing platform calling itself media outlet republished that letter but this time in English. Absurd! Outrageous! But hey, news.az is good - they always praise the government, write only about wonderful things that do not exist in Azerbaijan and claim to be a professional network. Professional ha! These people are disgrace to journalism.

Every day, I am baffled by how low some people are ready to fall. Just today I tried, no, I really tried, to have a conversation with my trolls. I wasted good two hours on them. But yet again, I proved myself that these are worthless creatures who do not give a spat about anything, having no respect for themselves or for this country.