Ilham Aliyev is after Azerbaijanis living abroad

It all started a while back. Arrests of opposition party members during the mid 2000, beatings, and persecution. Nosey journalists had to pay a hefty fine. Elmar Huseynov was murdered in front of his house in 2005. Then came more crackdown. In 2009 Azerbaijan had the referendum. Elections meant nothing, if not a little theatre performance Aliyev regime was extremely skilled with the most recent ones worthy of an Oscar if you ask me. 

While the Eurovision song contest in 2012 put Azerbaijan on the map, it did so with all its dirty business. By this point, there were a few investigative stories around to expose corruption and behind the doors businesses of the ruling family members as well as ministers and so on. 

In the meantime, just as corruption and personal wealth of the few grew, freedoms disappeared. 

Aliyev and his cronies watched closely. Or maybe he didn't because he is too busy for that, and his minions watched closely instead. They launched a new wave of crackdown. Everyone was to be punished if it contradicted what the government was saying and doing. It did not matter any more if you were a journalist, an activist, a youth activist, a human rights defender. Everyone was a target but the officials. 

I don't have to remind you of the prominent cases that were all over the news in 2014 and into 2016. 

The releases that seemed like the good news (even though they should not have happened in the first place) brought a wave of bad news soon after. 

It was time to re-fill, replace the spots in prisons. 

We thought it could not get uglier. When 20 somethings were sentenced to 10 years in jail for drawing graffiti (!!!) the 50 something judges who have carried out these sentences went back to their homes, comfortable, warm, with extra credit for lip service in their bootlick banks. 

In the meantime, family members of those who have fled the country were (and are) terrorised by the authorities (and surely no one has been punished for this either), called into questioning, and eventually faced with no other choice but to denounce their family members. Daughters, sons, just like that, lost their families not because they died (which also happened) but because their families were forced by the circumstances. 

And it got uglier. 

When mother of a rapper was detained for four days and questioned for a video her son released forcing him to remove the video from YouTube. 

And just yesterday [February 19] an Azerbaijani activist and video blogger Ordukhan Teymurkhan living abroad received a phone call from police officer in Baku telling him "had he been a man, his sisters would not be detained". 

Here is a bit more in detail about the case: 

So here is a reminder for anyone out there who thinks Aliyev is a good guy, or that things are changing for the better in Azerbaijan. Aliyev is not a good guy. He never was, he never will. And he will continue to do whatever he wants because there are no checks and balances. And honestly, I don't know how else to explain the fact that he has never had even the slightest of the intention to change. Again, Aliyev deserves Oscars for such an outstanding performance for making many believe things might change. 

Internet Governance Forum meets again [updated]

It is that time of the year, when the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meets again. This year, the event is hosted by Indonesian government and we are in Bali. I won't lie, concentrating in a beautiful place like this, surrounded by stunning beach hasn't been easy (especially when you are the only person dressed in business causal outfit while the rest of the guests walk around in their bikinis and other summer attire).  

This year's general theme is Enhancing Multistakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development. As it has been in the past years, the guests of the conference represent a diverse group- government representatives, civil society institutions, media, academia, human rights defenders, freedom of press advocates, activists, journalists, and bloggers.

I have only been to two IGFs but its enough to compare. Whether it was the internet, the venue or any other logistical matter, IGF2013 was by far, better organized than IGF2012 in Baku. There were shuttle buses waiting for guests at the airport not to mention a registration table set up at the arrival terminal. Of course, visas were issued upon arrival with no difficulties (this is not to say that there weren't visa issues- many participants, especially those traveling from Africa had difficulties to either obtain visa, or missed the forum, because they were managed to get it on time). 

The registration on the first day of the forum was also very quick. Perhaps it was because our delegation arrived early but still it did seem all throughout the day, that the registration line moved more or less quick.

Last year I attended IGF as an independent, this year however,  I am here as part of a kick ass Freedom House delegation and its been a privilege to be here with them (in fact, check out the Freedom on the Net reports published by the Freedom House this year).

Some highlights

Registration: The registration process was very efficient as I mentioned earlier.  One strange encounter was when I received my badge, it had my picture from last year IGF. I don't remember signing any papers letting IGF Secretariat keep my photo. As it turned out later during the day I wasn't the only one. Few more people who attended IGF last year in Azerbaijan were issued badges with photos from last year (as I discovered later, it wasn't only the photos from last year but also USB sticks too). 

Another bizarre experience was meeting Miss Internet Bali 2013- indeed, you didn't misread that. There was Miss Internet, who was the pageant winner (if you are fluent in Indonesian you can learn more about it here). According to an article in Jakarta post I found online the winner is the 19 year old Dewa Ayu Windu Sari Devi. She is a student at the Udayana University's School of Economics. Her extensive knowledge on Internet usage and services in Indonesia got her the prize. Devi is going to be the symbol of using the Internet "smartly and wisely" reported Jakarta post.

Wifi: the internet connection which was terrible last year (not to mention completely inaccessible during some of the sessions which focused on the human rights or freedom of expression issues in particular) was working just fine here (some participants had some difficulties connecting); each meeting room had a giant stand set up with a list of names of each sessions scheduled to take place in these rooms. The leaflet distributed upon registration with the IGF program provided the map of the venue with room names and numbers. 

I think the main reason why it was different this year was because for Azerbaijani government it wasn't so much about the quality of organizing but about simply having an event like this in order to add it to its list of "trophies" (there is an Azerbaijan booth here proudly distributing a report from last year's IGF, but proudly failing to mention anything about the human rights discussions or press freedom related criticism raised during the meetings). As an alternative you can read this report titled "False Freedom" that just came out. 

Issues discussed: Throughout the week some very interesting and important discussions were made-highlighting safety of bloggers, protecting rights of online activists, the role of governments in ensuring safety of users and free access of information and more (for the list of workshops and sessions see here). Surely there were sessions when internet policies of repressive governments was questioned and the lack of accountability measures- of holding governments responsible- highlighted. But whether there is going to be a solution to this any time soon is yet to be seen.

Wrapping up this one week long event, I am looking back and thinking of ways of taking back with me the knowledge (especially on online security) and contacts and hoping that meetings like IGF have more impact on certain governments and issues. But also get their control mechanism in order- because it is no doubt interesting that IGF is hosted in countries where human rights and freedom of the press records are not necessarily at their best. 

Bloggers for Democracy

On December 5th, European Greens organized "Bloggers for Democracy" conference at the European Parliament. I was invited as a guest speaker to talk about my experience as a blogger in the context of Azerbaijan. There were other really incredible and prominent bloggers on the same panel, as Sarrah Abdelrahman from Egypt, Oleg Kaschin from Russia and Michael Anti from China.We talked about our countries, our political contexts, revolutions, human rights and freedom of expression. 

But as always, it was the Q&A session that brought a lot more into the discussion. I will write on that more later but for now, if you missed it, if you weren't there, you can watch it below (bloggers presentations are part 2). 

"Azerbaijan: in the shadow of dictatorship"

Came across this report by accident when searching for news on Azerbaijan online. Excellent job capturing Azerbaijan and its present. 

You can access the original report here.

Azerbaijan: in the shadow of dictatorship

The School of Authentic Journalism

Perhaps the highlight of my year so far has been my time spent at the School of Authentic Journalism (SAJ or J-school). Imagine a group of fascinating people from pretty much around the world coming together to learn, work, teach, share and experience during a 10 day intense educational voyage to the world of authentic journalism. Yea, I know, kind of hard to imagine.

This year, the school was held in Mexico, which made the whole experience even more special. For me the time spent there turned into a great opportunity to talk to some of the most interesting and inspirational people from various corners of the world.

The school runs on funds raised throughout the year. You can support the cause by contributing here and read more on the school and Narco News here.   

Some of this year's speakers included people like Ivan Marovic- founder of Serbian Otpor movement that brought down Milosevic; Oscar Olivera- one of the main protestors during Bolivia's water privatization and many more. Click here to see other speakers.

Above all, what makes this school unique experience is its approach to the field of journalism. This year split in three different workshop groups- investigative and online journalism, viral video/audio group the school hosted 40 scholars and about 40 professors. But its not your usual school, here at the school of authentic journalism scholars and professors learn from each other during workshops, free time, and plenary sessions. You shouldn't be surprised if at some point someone would like to interview you either for their paper, project or idea. Its a chance to pass on your message and hear many others speak about a number of different issues. 

I am actually several months late in writing this post but I wanted to take this opportunity and share another great production of that school (to see some of the other creations you can visit here, here, here and here). Among its professors, Andrew Stelzer, an award winning radio producer and news reporter based in Oakland, CA. Working as a producer with the National Radio Project Adrew was one of my highlight individuals to meet at the school. He interviewed me and many others for his Radio Project "Making Contact" and so here it is: "Tales and Tools of Revolution: From Serbia to Egypt" with interviews from Ivan Marovic (Serbia/Otpor); Namees Arnous (Egypt/Journalist); and me (in case, you can't open it here please visit this site to listen to the full program):

Note: During the time of the interview, I knew I would have difficulties coming back to Azerbaijan after the whole March 11th Facebook saga. But I do hope, to travel to Azerbaijan soon, safe and sound.

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber- Dissidents

I have been meaning to upload this great report for a while now but since Turkey banned blogger.com and you can only access it through bypass proxies and changing your DNS servers, its been rather frustrating keeping my blog updated recently. 

This "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Activists" is a useful guide book for all those who want to make sure that they are safe and secured from a number of different actors and most importantly their authoritarian governments (yes, there are still many countries in the world that are authoritarian, and Azerbaijan is just one of them). Prepared by the Reporters Without Borders, this handbook looks at terminology of today's online community and its residents, guidelines for how to set up and run blogs, ethics especially for those bloggers who write of news in their countries and become sources of valuable information for external actors, and much more. 

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber- Dissidents

Blog Forum Gdansk

So, as I sit in a room full of bloggers and journalists and practitioners from different backgrounds mostly from Poland, we are just coming to an end, of the first ever Blog Forum held in Gdansk, Poland. The city represents many different things- ideas, colors, values- just like blogs but above all this city is the symbol of Freedom. A concept much valued and respected in this city if not in the whole of Poland.

But I will be writing more about the city I saw and impressed me deeply later. And so this has been an important event for Gdansk, for its resident bloggers, and bloggers coming from all around Poland with some foreign guest speakers and panelists joining this interesting and significant event. The event itself is taking place at the Instytut Sztuki Wyspa (Wyspa Institute of Art), which used to be basic shipbuilding school in the grounds of the Gdansk Shipyard. The institute itself is part of the series of the initiatives to re- brand the city especially given the city's plans to become the European Capital of Culture for 2016. The motto is "Freedom of Culture, Culture of Freedom".

Back to the forum, the speaker- Jarek Rybus- talking now is one of the brains behind a documentary movie on bloggers in Poland. Here is the official website, though in Polish it might give you some idea of the upcoming film. As I watch the short clippings from the movie it makes me wonder whether we should or could do one of these in Azerbaijan, or something like this on the Caucasus. Could be an interesting initiative.

The event itself been interesting to me personally as it was possible to see what bloggers in a different part of the world consider important or interesting and what topics interest their readers. The panel I was speaking at was on Freedom of Bloggers and it happened that part of the discussion went around the question whether bloggers are free if they host advertisements on their blog. I have to say, it was an interesting panel, especially seeing how the discussion span off.

The even was discussed on Twitter (#blogforumgdansk), Facebook (and a separate page on Facebook with the videos and live stream from the event), Blip, and YouTube.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole thing, there have been some very interesting presentations but my favorites were Sami Ben Gardhia and Brian Solis. The full list of speakers and panelists can be found here.

And I would like to thank the organizers for a great event and extending the invitation to me. Special thanks to Jakub Gornicki :)

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The images in this post except from blogersi are my own.