Global Voices Online » Blogger News

Azerbaijan: Prison Diary

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:50:04 +0000

AdnanEmin's Blog, Prison Diary, a new blog from Azerbaijan, has been set up to republish letters sent from prison in the oil-rich former Soviet republic by Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two detained video blogging youth activists sentenced last week and considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience. The first post carries a message from Milli after his sentence.

Georgia: Reaction to lack of media attention on Azerbaijan bloggers' trial

Dodka — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:30:39 +0000

Following last week's sentence on two video bloggers in Azerbaijan, some blogs in neighboring Georgia have posted critical entries condemning the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. This also extends to the relative lack of coverage on the case in the local mainstream media as Dv0rsky notes angrily.

ქართული ჟურნალისტიკა და მედია საბოლოოდ ჩაიძირა.
ჩაისვარეს. და არც კი სცხვენიათ.

სიტყვის თავისუფლებაზე რამდენს ბჭობენ, როგორ ”იბრძვიან” - და ამხელა ამბავი გამოეპარათ.

აზერბაიჯანელი ბლოგერები ემინ მილი და ადნან ჰაჯიზადე ორი თვის წინ დაიჭიარეს და დღეს საბოლოოდ გაასამართლეს მხოლოდ იმ ბრალდებით, რომ ისინი მთავრობას აკრიტიკებდნენ, აშარჟებდნენ და დასცინოდნენ. ოფიციალური ბრალდება - ხულიგნობა.

2 წელიწადი იმისათვის, რომ ვირს ჩამოართვა ინტერვიუ - ბევრია თუ ცოტა?

ქართველ ჟურნალისტებს რა უჭირთ, სულ ვირებს არ ართმევენ ინტერვიუებს? სულ თავისუფლად თანაც…

Georgian journalism and the media has sunk low for the last time. They fucked up. And they are not even embarrassed.

So much talk about freedom of speech, how they “fight” for it - and they missed such a huge story.

Azeri bloggers Emin milli and Adnan Hadjizade were sentenced today only for making fun of government. Official accusation - hooliganism.

Two years for interviewing a donkey - is it too much or isn't it?

Georgian journalists have nothing to say - they always interview donkeys. And very freely.

A comment from სულხანი agreed.

სამაგიეროდ ჩვენი ტელევიზიები ძალიან ოპერატიულად (თანაც საღამოს საინფორმაციოს პირველ სიუჟეტად) აშუქებენ პენელოპა კრუსის სავარაუდო ჩამოსვლას ჩვენთან)

ტფუი..

And at this time our TV-stations cover possible visit of Penelope Cruise as their first news. Disgusting.

Another comment, this time from Natosha, remembers that sensitivities surrounding Azerbaijan in Georgia even extend to monuments.

ეს ამბავი რომ გავიგე ერთი რაღაც გამახსენდა.
უხსოვარ დროს ფოტოჟურნალისტიკას ვსწავლობდით და დავალებით გაგვიშვეს ალიევის ბაღის გახსნის გადასაღებად (თბილისში, აბანოებთან რომ არის). ხოდა, იმ ბაღში ძეგლიც დგას.. და პრინციპულად არ შეგვიშვეს ფოტოების გადასაღებად, მანამ სანამ ალაგებდნენ ტერიტორიას. და მერე აღარ მახსოვს ლექციაზე ითქვა, თუ ვიღაცამ თქვა (ძალიან ბუნდოვნად მახსოვს ეგ მომენტი), რომ არ შეიძლებოდა ისეთი კადრების დაფიქსირება, სადაც ვთქვათ, ასფლატს გვიან და ფონზე ძეგლია.. ან მსგავსი კადრები, რომლის სხვანაირად “ინტერპრეტირება” შეიძლებაო. ვოტ.

When I first heard the story, I remembered one thing.
Some time ago we were learning photojournalism. We were given a task and went to the opening of [former late Azerbaijani president] Aliyev park (which is in Tbilisi). A monument of Aliyev also is located in that park. We could not get inside to take photos before the teritory was being cleaned up. Then I don't remember, either in the lecture, or someone else told me why - it was prohibited to take pictures of the monument of Aliyev with the background of someone sweeping or cleaning up. They said it might be interpreted badly.

After one online site criticized the lack of attention in the local media, I commented on the report after posting it on Facebook.

Two Azeri bloggers were sentenced to jail today. Georgian traditional media - silence. Good job! Don't be surprised when others will be silent, when next time you are left without freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Good job, Georgian journalists, good job!

Nevertheless, some online journalists such as თავისუფალი სიტყვის ბლოგი made entries on their blogs about the case, pointing out why Georgian bloggers should be concerned. It was also republished in the local press.

აღსანიშანავია, რომ საქართველოში ჯერჯერობით ბლოგერებს სიტყვის თავისუფლების მხრივ სერიოზული პრობლემები აქამდე ჯერ არ ჰქონიათ. მიუხედავად ამისა, რამდენიმე კვირის წინ იუტუბის რამდენიმე მომხმარებელს მცირე პრობლემები მაინც შეექმნათ. გასულ თვეში ვიდეოპორტალზე გავრცელდა პატრიარქის გაშარჟებული ვიდეოები, რასაც საზოგადოების მხრიდან უარყოფითი რეაქცია მოჰყვა. დაიწყო გამოძიება. შინაგან საქმეთა სამინისტრომ ვიდეოების გავრცელებაში ბრალდებული ორი ახალგაზრდა დაკითხა და ნივთმტკიცების სახით მათ კომპიუტერები და ფოტოაპარატები ჩამოართვა, აგრეთვე გაჩხრიკეს მათი სახოვრებელი სახლები.

It's worth mentioning that bloggers in Georgia have encountered problems with freedom of speech. However, a few weeks ago some YouTube users got in trouble. Video-jokes about Georgian Patriarch Ilia II were made and uploaded to YouTube and society responded negatively. An investigation started and the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained two youngsters suspected of making the video. Their computers and photo cameras were confiscated, and their houses were searched.

Meanwhile, despite the criticism, Social Blurbs, a new English-language Georgian blog on social media, suggests readers acquaint themselves with the Hajizade and Milli case on Global Voices Online as well as on a support site. It also notes how some Georgian bloggers and journalists were covering the case.

Although the trial was not the hottest topic for absolute majority of the Georgian social media contributors, still having couple bloggers (Dodka and Cyxymi) representing Georgia at the WBF2009, helped to interest few others in here.

All day Dodka was tweeting from WBF about the case. Later Giga Paichadze aka Dv0rsky retweeted and posted about it also blaming Georgian media “that is fighting for freedom of expression and does not notice” such a big event next door, however some links in comments indicated that media has covered the trial and arrest of Azeri bloggers.

Meanwhile, full coverage of the detention, trial and imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

Azerbaijan: More reaction to video blogger trial verdict

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:36:45 +0000

Days after the sentencing of two video blogging youth activists in Azerbaijan, other bloggers are starting to speak out about the imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. The two online activists will spend 2 and 2.5 years in jail after a trial which most consider to be politically motivated and an attempt to silence dissent in the country.

They join others such as the Presidency of the European Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders as well as many others in condemning the verdict.

Amnesty International has also declared the two men to be prisoners of conscience. Interesting Times, an “online initiative monitoring attempts throughout the world to censor and restrict free access to the Internet,” puts the trial in context.

The latest show of repression by state forces in Azerbaijan leaves no doubt that both journalists and bloggers exercise their right to express themselves freely at their own risk.

[…]

Thanks to international pressure such as the WPFC letter and several others, the Azeri government has been compelled to release journalists from prison.

But this latest act of repression against two bloggers leaves no doubt that, if left alone, public officials in Azerbaijan will continue their abusive ways.

Notes from Abroad is also not surprised by the verdict.

On Tuesday, two young bloggers were sentenced to prison — one for two-and-a-half years, the other for two years — on the ridiculous charge of hooliganism. The whole thing is a sham — driven by political motives, but it is not surprising.

[…]

Since Azerbaijan is an oil-rich fiefdom, the West has treaded carefully in responding to this very undemocratic behavior by the Azeri government.

The Azeri government must be strongly condemned by the democracies of the world that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

The Blogar, however, is nearly speechless.

So the verdict is in.
Emin and Adnan are officially hooligans.
At a loss here on what to say.
Supposedly social media had a role in putting them behind bars, a role in getting the word out on the street about the injustice but was unable to change the minds of the corrupt Azerbaijan legal system.
Dont mess with Ilham.

[…] My thoughts are with their families and them.

However, with an appeal due to be lodged and possible action in the European Court of Human Rights, L4L, a new English-language Azeri blog, says that this is just the beginning.

What to do next? First of all we should not stop. We should continue working towards liberty of our friends and towards freedom of all Azerbaijan. […] Adnan and Emin showed no fear and we should not be anything less than courageous and inspiring.

[…]

This is hardly end. It all begins now.

Parvana Persiani and Global Voices Online's David Sasaki, World Blogging Forum, Bucharest, Romania © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania, Global Voices Online held a first aborted interview with Parvana Persiani, an Executive Board Member of the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement which her boyfriend, the imprisoned Adnan Hajizade, co-founded.

More updates will be posted as of when. Meanwhile, full coverage of the detention, trial and imprisonment of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

The 5th Chinese blogger conference: micro power and a broader world

Oiwan Lam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

The 5th Chinese blogger conference took place last weekend in a rural county Lianzhou in northern part of Guangdong province. Despite the inconvenient traffic, there were around 150 participants from China and overseas attended the conference.

The conference slogan this year is “Micro power and a boarder world”, the organizing committee explained:

今年年会的口号是“微动力，广天地”，旨在展望越来越微观的信息分享手段和管道，促进社会进步与协作，并带来直接效应的生活方式。一段媒母，一张照片，或者一枚明信片，都可能带来积极的社会改变，更不用说有千千万万的可能性正在孕育中，带给我们一篇广阔的思想天地。

This year the slogan of the annual conference is “Micro power and a broader world”. We want to look into various tools and channels of micro information sharing and its implication towards social progress, cooperation and people's life. No matter whether it is a meme, a photo or a postcard, they have the potential in changing our society. Not to mention the fact that the space generated by the tools opens up millions of possibilities open up our horizon.

Hu Yong, the keynote speaker of this year's conference, further elaborated the idea of “micro power” in his talk:

每个人承担责任，不是别的，就是微动力。微，就是每一个普通的中国公民，我在上面称之为“大人物”的人。动力，指的不是别的，而是说，不论言语有前条万条，改变世界的其实还是行动。

Every single person has to bear one's responsibility and such sense of responsibility is micro power. The meaning of micro refers to every single Chinese citizen, I have called them “big people” in the previous section. The meaning of power refers to action that brings change to the world.

微，也可以指日常化的微观政治。政治可以分为宏观政治和微观政治，宏观政治是结构性的，微观政治是日常化的。匈牙利作家康诺德1982年写过一本书叫做《反政治》，其中包含了许多被后来的人们追踪的议题。哈维尔经常用的概念有“反政治的政治”和“无权者的权力”、“公民的首创精神”等。既然极权的权力是无所不在、无所不能的，它全面扑灭来自生活的任何自发性和自主性，是对于广大丰富的生活领域的全面攻击和扼杀，那么，从生活的任何一个面向、起点、领域开始，都可能造成对于极权制度的抵制和反抗。哈维尔的翻译者崔卫平老师认为，“反政治的政治”不去追逐政治权力，不制定一种纲领反对另外一种纲领，不试图以政治手段（更替领导人乃至改朝换代）解决问题。相反，“反政治”提倡在日常生活的领域中随时随地展开工作。其实，这也说的就是如何从身边的治理做起。所以，在以上我说到的互联网激发的中国民众的公共精神之中，我们必须大力强调“公民的首创精神”，即任何人可以从任何地方开始。这就是我所理解的微动力。

The word micro can also refer to daily micro politics. We have macro and micro politics. Macro is structural while micro is daily politics. Hungarian writer Gyorgy Konrad wrote a book titled as “Antipolitics” in 1982. The book has many ideas that elaborated by others. Ideas such as “politics of anti-politics”, “power of the powerless”, “originality of citizen” are Václav Havel's favorite terms. When the power of authoritarianism is omnipresent, its termination has to come from the realization of people's autonomy and initiation in daily life. When the authoritarian system invades people's living domain, people's daily act can also resist against such control. Cui Weiping, the Chinese translator of Vaclav Havel's writings, pointed out that “the politics of antipolitics” is not to struggle for political power, it is not to produce a set of agenda to replace another set of agenda, and it does not attempt to solve the problem via political means (replacing leaders or power bloc). On the other hand, “antipolitics” operates in the level of daily life. In other words, the self-governance of an individual. That's why, when we address the issue of the development of Internet public sphere, we have to emphasize the “originality of citizen”. Every individual can take initiation where ever they want. This is how I understand micro power.

微动力为什么重要？在过去，少数几个动力十足的人和几乎没有动力的大众一起行动，通常导致令人沮丧的结果。那些激情四射的人不明白为什么大众没有更多的关心，大众则不明白这些痴迷者为什么不能闭嘴。而今天，有高度积极性的那些人应致力于降低行动的门槛，让那些只介意一点的人能参与一点，而所有的努力汇总起来则将十分有力。比如，一封小小的明信片，也能汇成强大的呐喊。

Why micro power is so important? In the past, whenever a few action oriented people acted with the passive masses, the results were depressing. The passionate activists could not understand why the masses did not show enough concern and enthusiasm while the masses could not understand why the fanatic activists could not just shut up. Today, activists should facilitate action and allow people who are not deeply involved in campaign and movement to participate. Their acts will be very powerful once they are aggregated together. For example, a piece of postcard can turn into a powerful scream when hundreds and thousands of them are mailed to the same destination.

Blogger Guangyao, reflected upon Hu Yong's talk and pointed out that the precondition to the practice of micro power is the ability to think independently:

然而微动力之前必需是独立思考，因为在这个社会哺育了畸形的价值观。在这个国家对成功的普遍定义是你是否成为一个能比别人赚更多钱的财主，这个社会不断容忍对于社会良知和道德的底线，当然最畸形的是太多人对于独立思考的不自知。这个国家无疑比60年前有更大物质自由又更高的学历，然而这个国家在60年前后一样没有独立思考精神。50年或者100年的未来赋予了今天重要的社会及历史的责任，作为每个具体的个体，应当以微动力之势前行。用艾未未的一句话，“每个人承担责任，可能是这个社会将来变化的一个最基本的可能。如果没有这种可能，这个社会不会发生变化。”

It requires independent thinking for realizing micro power. This society has distorted our value. In this country, the definition of being success is to get as much money as possible and become wealthy. As a result, the society has kept lowering its baseline of social conscience and morality. Too many people are unaware of the need to think independently. Of course, our material well being and education are much better when compared to 60 years ago, but our ability to think independently remains more or less the same. Hence, our responsibility to our society and history in the future 50 or 100 years is to act as an individual and create a trend by practicing our micro power. Here I would like to quote Ai Weiwei's words: “The possibility for this world to change relies on every individual's commitment to undertake their responsibility, or else the world will never be changed.”

Media studies student from Let's blog together interviewed Isaac Mao during the Asia blogfest and associated the concept of micro power with “cloud intelligence”:

“微动力，广天地”体现的思想，与毛向辉的“Cloud Intelligence”理论一脉相承。
在网络时代，人们有更多的机会随时随地分享。当人们在不断分享自己、分享自己认同的别人的观点时，慢慢地形成了一种现象，毛向辉称之为“Cloud Intelligence”。

The idea of “Micro power and a boarder world” is similar to Isaac Mao's theory.
In the Internet era, people have more opportunities to share whenever they want. “Cloud Intelligence” happens when people continuously share their ideas and opinions that they agree with.

一个人分享了一个观点，其他人看到之后又分享了这个观点，更多人看到之后继续分享给其他人。通过这样不断地分享，就可以实现一群人做决定。这跟水滴聚集形成云的过程相似——毛向辉把个体比作水滴，而当个体因为认同某个观点而不断分享时，他们就聚集起来，形成一股力量，一股甚至可以改变国家政策、社会秩序的力量。

When a person shares an idea with others, other people will pick that up and continue to forward that idea to others, so on and so forth. Such kind of continuous sharing would eventually realize the will of these people. The process is like water drops coming together to form cloud. Isaac Mao compares individual to a drop of water and when individual keeps sharing the ideas that they agree with, these people would come together and turn into a power that can change government policy and social order.

今年6月，厦门网友郭宝锋因传播严晓玲案被福州警方扣留，网友发动一人一张明信片的行动，给狱中的郭宝锋寄明信片，写着：“妈妈喊你回家吃饭。”从全国各地蜂拥而至的明信片，最后真的促进了郭的释放。

In June this year, netizen Guo Baofeng was detained by Fuzhou police because he spread information regarding Yan Xiaoling's unnatural death. Other netizens took action by sending postcards to the detention center where Guo Baofeng was held. Each postcard was marked with a sentence: “mother is calling you home for dinner”. These postcards were sent from all across the country and eventually Guo was released.

小小的明信片能把人从看守所解救出来，体现了“微动力”所创造的“天地”，这就是“Cloud Intelligence”的力量。

A piece of postcard has eventually led to the release of Guo from the detention center. It is an example of “micro-power” creating a new “world”. It also manifests the power of “cloud intelligence”.

Blogger Kissfree spelled out explicitly that “micro power” is to call upon citizen's awareness:

促进社会改变不一定要刀枪，微动力的力量不可忽视，我觉得微动力的本质就是呼唤公民意识，让人们多了一份责任，不再茫然然过日子。微动力通过汇集众人力量来促进社会进步，虽然公民社会在天朝起步不易，但人心所向，不是一两个人物或是某个集团能阻止的，相反“他们”应当顺应潮流甚至加入我们，微动力–人民的力量！

We don't need swords and guns to transform our society. We should not under estimate micro power. The essence of micro power is to call upon citizen's awareness so that they would take up their responsibility and fill up their lives with meaning. Through aggregation of people's will, micro power can bring progress to the society. Although there is a lot of obstacles for the development of civil society in China, when people's will is pointing towards the same direction, neither the power bloc nor powerful individuals could stop the momentum. On the contrary, they have to follow the trend and join us. Micro power is people's power!

Azerbaijan: Bloggers sentenced

Onnik Krikorian — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:03:19 +0000

As many of their supporters feared, and on the same day as a round table on the case against two detained video blogging youth activists, a court in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier passed sentence on Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli.

The verdict and first reaction spread on Twitter.

Media Helping Media quickly commented on the sentence.

According to supporters tweeting from the court, the lawyer for Hajizade, Isahan Ashurov, said the case was about power.

“Today we witness the unfair struggle of mind and physical power.” “Today we witness the unfair struggle of mind and physical power.”

[…]

Supporters have tweeted that Hajizade said the decision was built on lies.

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines also reflects on the verdict and says “this is not an end, this is only the beginning.”

Today at the end of the hearing, Emin said he is feeling proud and thats why he is ready to accept the verdict given to him. Adnan, questioned how alleged witnesses will look into the eyes of their families- we will be done with our sentences but I wonder how they are going to live a life built on lies… They both showed their strength to us, we must to the same in return.

Meanwhile, the first ever World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania, immediately issued a preliminary statement.

We, the bloggers, will promote a world in which Internet users shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and repression in any form.

The bloggers united in Bucharest at the World Blogging forum are worried about the situation in Azerbaijan and support #EminAdnan as a Free Voice of the Internet and as a member of the World Blogging Family.

Global Voices caught up with Parvana Persiani, OL! youth activist and Hajizade's girlfriend, at the conference yesterday.

Azerbaijan: Reaction to yesterday's blogger trial

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:34:22 +0000

As the trial of video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli continues in Baku, two English-language bloggers from Azerbaijan react to yesterday's aborted court hearing. Both seem pessimistic and unhappy with how the trial has been conducted to date, but nonetheless say they will continue to fight for the two men's release.

In particular, L4L shares his observations from yesterday's hearing, and specifically on the decision not to enter phone records in Hajizade and Milli's defense into court.

During today’s hearing of “Wild-beating-taekwando-champions-bloggers-Adnan-and-Emin” case I was able to enter courtroom for the first time. Mixed feelings of what was happening. I saw Emin and Adnan, saw how strong they are. And this made me happy and proud. I had dozen or so rounds of laugh in the expense of “victims” Vusal and Babek. I was annoyed as hell.

Azercell answered to enquiry of the court and gave reports on calls made on July 8 by “victims” and Adnan. […] reports of Adnan’s calls shows that he was in the 39th police station. This little fact demolishes the case of the prosecutor. This shows that Adnan and Emin weren’t brought to police station handcuffed. […]

[…]

Then Vusal showed that he is “real Caucasian man” with valor and strong feeling of “qeyret”. He asked judge not to give Azercell’s report on his calls to defense. “I don’t want them to disturb my relatives and those close to me”. […] naturally, judge is “real Caucasian man” too, so he understood Vusal’s tender feelings and was with him on that.

Anyways. Amnesia. Adnan and Emin answered few questions after Vusal and Babek and they were so clear and accurate, contrast was almost scary. […]

[…] People like Emin and Adnan who made their choice and are proudly standing by it. Who will not back off. We should help their case. Only this way this nation will shake its AMNESIA.

Meanwhile, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines remembers events to date, but also looks to the future.

Its been 4 months since Emin and Adnan's arrest- time goes by but somethings simply don't change. […]

[…] happiness and sense of victory slowly disappeared as in July, two youth activists- Emin Milli (30) and Adnan Hajizada (26) were arrested and charged with “hooliganism” and are now facing up to 5 year of imprisonment. They didn't do anything- they were attacked by two men who are now treated as “victims” and are set free while Emin and Adnan are spending their time behind bars. But they are keeping their chin up. […]

[…]

Looking back it makes one wonder will there ever be a change? Will people actually enjoy their lives rather than worry about making extra money to feed their families? Will our youth be able to study in corruption free universities and actually get a descent education? Will people be happy again? For now, there is only one answer, time will show so let it go by but be patient and hopefully we, or our children, or our grand children will see that change…

Incidentally, the date set for the next hearing (11 November) will coincide with a roundtable discussion on the case at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Hooliganism or Freedom of Speech? The case of two bloggers detained in Azerbaijan

On July 8, 2009, two bloggers and political activists, Andnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, were arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of “hooliganism”. The bloggers were detained shortly after posting a video on YouTube mocking the Azeri government's purchase of donkeys from Germany. After nine trials, the two bloggers (both without prior criminal records) remain imprisoned. The four presenters will form a panel discussion to speak about this particular case of the bloggers and what it means for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan as well as the greater Caucasus region.

Present for the event will be Parvana Persiani, Hajizade's girlfriend and a senior figure in the OL! Azerbaijani youth movement, who will also be attending next week's World Blogging Forum in Bucharest, Romania.

Global Voices Online will interview her there and Persiani will also feature in a live online interview on Kosmoshow.

Full coverage of the detention and trial of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is available in the Azerbaijan section of Global Voices Online and on the OL! Blog (in English and Azeri). The hashtag #EminAdnan is also used on Twitter.

Azerbaijan: Activist blogger trial resumes, delays persist (updated)

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:59:02 +0000

Although not its official birthday, Global Voices Online made its first ever post on threats made against Iranian dissident blogger Hossein Derakhshan, aka Hoder five years ago today. And in the same week that Threatened Voices, an online project to map bloggers under attack worldwide was launched, Derakhshan marked the first anniversary of his incarceration in prison.

Today is also notable for another event — the continuing trial of detained video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli in Baku, Azerbaijan. The last court hearing was adjourned because witnesses did not turn up. Media Helping Media comments on the latest developments in what many consider to be a politically motivated case to silence dissent in the country.

The trial of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Abdullayev (also known as Milli) was adjourned ten days ago after a brief appearance by the two on hooliganism and violence charges.

[…]

Those campaigning for the release of the two men suspect that there may be political reasons behind the delays.

Media freedom groups have been protesting about the arrests and detention and claim it is part of an effort to limit freedom of expression.

Two days ago, Emotions on Air, Mind Mute, a newly launched English-language Azeri blog, reflected on the the case against the two young activists.

I started to intensely think about Emin and Adnan. I came to be proud of their parents,teachers and elders. I became curious about books they have read. I got jealous of friends they have, as they were lucky to know these great men personally.

Now it hurts very much that they are in prison. Their great time of lives has been stolen. Their summer has been taken away. Their parents spend sleepless nights. They have been deprived to enjoy their work, make mistakes, hang out with youth and talk to them. Their email inboxes are flooded with messages and run out of extra space.

But they keep on inspiring youth. They are hoping and planting seeds of liberty. They are spiritually free despite that their physical freedom is limited.

[…]

I think of my future now. How will it be? Will it come at all given the society I live in. Will I be arrested one day? My kids I will have.. if ever. […]

All I know is I want them to be hooligans like Emin and Adnan.

Nevertheless, many of Hajizade and Milli's supporters remained resigned to more delays.

As it was, the hearing was held although witnesses displayed selective memories. As usual, friends and supporters of Hajizade and Milli used new and social media such as Facebook and Twitter to update others.

The fact that key witnesses and the alleged victims themselves were unable to provide testimony prompted one supporter to hope that the trial might now end.

However, although it was proven that the two activists had reported an incident of physical assault against themselves, missing key evidence soon gave many reason to fear the worst. [Update: Eurasianet has since reported that the phone records were ruled inadmissible by the judge]

Amidst criticism that the authorities are stringing out the trial indefinitely, their fears were probably well founded. Despite calling a break, the hearing was not resumed.

Yet, while the action against Hajizade and Milli looks set to continue in a trial considered by the international community and local civil society organizations to be highly flawed, perhaps the last laugh went to Hajizade and Milli's supporters who noticed the irony when the two activists were taken away.

Also somewhat ironically, the date set for the next hearing will coincide with a roundtable discussion on the case at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Hooliganism or Freedom of Speech? The case of two bloggers detained in Azerbaijan

On July 8, 2009, two bloggers and political activists, Andnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, were arrested in Azerbaijan on charges of “hooliganism”. The bloggers were detained shortly after posting a video on YouTube mocking the Azeri government's purchase of donkeys from Germany. After nine trials, the two bloggers (both without prior criminal records) remain imprisoned. The four presenters will form a panel discussion to speak about this particular case of the bloggers and what it means for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan as well as the greater Caucasus region.

Global Voices Online hopes to interview her there and Persiani will also feature in a live Internet interview on Kosmoshow.

Introducing Threatened Voices

Sami Ben Gharbia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:37:43 +0000

Never before have so many people been threatened or imprisoned for what the words they write on the internet.

As activists and ordinary citizens have increasingly made use of the internet to express their opinions and connect with others, many governments have also increased surveillance, filtering, legal actions and harassment. The harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death. Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide.

Today, Global Voices Advocacy is launching a new website called Threatened Voices to help track suppression of free speech online. It features a world map and an interactive timeline that help visualize the story of threats and arrests against bloggers worldwide, and it is a central platform to gather information from the most dedicated organisations and activists, including Committee to Protect Bloggers, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Reporters without Borders, Human Rights Watch, CyberLaw Blog, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists, Global Voices Advocacy.

What blogger, where?

Finding accurate information about arrested and threatened bloggers and online writers is difficult for several reasons.

First, the secrecy surrounding online censorship and repression makes it extra difficult to be accurate. Not a single week passes without stories of arrests of yet another online journalist or activist in countries like Egypt or Iran, but the details and reasons are often shrouded in mystery.

Second, there is still some confusion about the definition of a “blogger”. Professional journalists are increasingly migrating to online media and blogs in pursuit of more freedom, blurring the old lines of definition. And many so-called cyber-dissidents in China, Tunisia, Vietnam, or Iran, do not have personal blogs. Other times, bloggers are arrested for their offline activity, rather than for what they have published online.

This confusion has sometimes made it hard for online free speech advocates to come up with a good strategies and partnerships to defend bloggers and online activists, but it has never been more important to try.

Let's work together

At Global Voices we engage a community of authors, editors, and translators, who help keep us all informed of free speech and human rights abuses. With Threatened Voices we aim to open the process of reporting up even further to any person who has information.

We're calling on those whose friends, relatives, colleagues, or compatriots, have been threatened to help create and update the profiles of those missing or under arrest, so we can seek additional sources, verify, and link to online campaigns dedicated to freeing them.

In the process, we are hoping to learn more about when, where, and to what extent bloggers are being subjected to abuse in different countries, so we can share that information widely with journalists, researchers, and activists, and work towards creating an internet where everyone can exercise their right to speak freely, and where bloggers in prison are not forgotten.

Help spread the word. Tweet, blog and update your facebook status about Threatened Voices!

Azerbaijan: Video blogger trial postponed… again (updated)

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:32:54 +0000

In what many consider to be a politically motivated trial to stifle dissent in Azerbaijan, video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli once again appeared in court today.

The two young activists, exemplary in their use of new media in the region, were unexpectedly detained in the early hours of 8 July after they were attacked at a restaurant in the center of Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

On the eve of yet another hearing, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines blogger Arzu Geybullayeva summed up her own feelings about the case.

Tomorrow (27th October), Adnan and Emin are going to have another hearing. Its been almost two weeks since the last one and there is still hope that they will be released. At least I want to hope so! I want to see my friends free again. I want their parents to see their sons and be proud of them. I want all of us- his friends, be honored that we have friends as them.

The following morning, L4L made a similar post albeit in a much shorter form and injected with some humor, perhaps in an effort to lift the spirits of others.

I don’t want to hear anything rational right now. I don’t want to think anything rational right now. I want them out of the jail today. Adnan still owes me few rounds of beer. So, i want them back. :)

When the trial started earlier today, supporters of the two detained activists used Facebook and Twitter to spread updates from the ground worldwide.

However, as has been common throughout the case and despite significant international outcry, many seem resigned to the fact that the authorities appear intent on dragging out the court case for as long as possible rather than see it come to a speedy end.

Support Adnan and Emin yesterday listed some of the many concerns about the trial expressed by human rights and pro-democracy organizations inside Azerbaijan.

This legal trial chaired by Araz Huseynov strikingly indicates the dependence of the judicial system on the executive power and the use of trials for political pressure on dissidents and repressions, particularly against freedom of speech, thought and self-expression.

Despite likely having already resigned themselves to more of the same, the disappointment was evident in the tweets of supporters when the hearing was adjourned less than a hour after it started.

Update: Some hours after the hearing, L4L made a promised second post reflecting on the day. The blog summed up the combination of both anger, frustration and hope that supporters of the two online activists must have felt.

Well, we all witnessed what happened today. Adnan’s and Emin’s court hearing was postponed once again […]. One of the witnesses was missing, so judge decided that one hour of work is enough for his conscience to continue its state of sleep for another week and told tired audience of this spectacle that next hearing will be held on November 6, 2009(2009!). Seriously, case of hooliganism that is already under investigation for almost 4 months? Should we consider contacting Guinness World Records anytime soon? […]

[…]

[…] E&A’s smile, the way they handle themselves. Dignity, positivity, courage. Love and happiness in their eyes every time they see us. The fact that they still cheer us even being behind convoy car’s bars. That makes me hopeful. That gives me strength. And I hope that our tries to cheer them up are working, that they know how much we love them and miss them. Of course, I hope that Adnan didn’t forget about 2 beers that he still owes me :)

Georgia: New Media Forum assessed, bloggers interviewed

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:09:36 +0000

Following the recent New Media Forum, an event staged for media students and professionals in Tbilisi, Georgia, comes coverage in the local press. Although lagging behind its neighbors in the South Caucasus, interest in the online world is increasing and there are signs that the situation will change considerably in 2010, and especially in the area of the media and civil society. Georgia Today reports on the forum.

Radio Free Liberty journalist Niko Nergadze talked about a blog, which he has been running for over a year. After the lecture, he told Georgia Today that the participants were very active at the forum.

[…]

Nergadze added that forums like these are important for Georgia as new media exists, but is limited.

“Still we are very far from claiming that the Internet and new media have a serious influence on events. But we are heading toward something,” he said.

Ruso Panozashvili, a journalist and another forum participant, agrees with Nergadze about the event's importance.

“The importance of new media is high in Georgia where television and so-called traditional media outlets are strongly controlled,” she said. “This is not good for quality. This is why it is important to develop media with alternative tools, which in this case is new media.”

Global Voices Online's Caucasus Editor also made a presentation at the event, and was later interviewed by the same publication.

Last week Georgia Today published a story about Media Forum, an event that took place last week in Mtatsminda Park. This week we offer an interview with Onnik Krikorian, a British-Armenian journalist and photographer based in Armenia, the Caucasus editor for Global Voices Online, and the Armenia editor for Oneworld.net. During the New Media Forum he presented the Global Voices Web site and talked about the importance of new media in the Caucasus.

At the event, Global Voices Online interviewed three local bloggers, Dodka, Dv0rsky and Sweet. A second, longer interview by Polish new media specialist Jakub Górnicki, who was also presenting at the forum, is now available online.

Video discussion with Dodie Kharkheli (aka Dodie Kissie, Dodka), Giga Paitchadze (aka Dv0rsky), Mari Talakhadze (aka Sweet) about their blogs, what pushed them into blogging and how blogosphere developing in Georgia and South Caucasus. Show was broadcasted live on October 15th 2009 from Tbilisi.

Azerbaijan: Happy Birthday, Emin Milli

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:33:57 +0000

Wednesday saw the 30th birthday of detained youth activist Emin Milli, now on trial in Azerbaijan along with OL! youth movement founder and video blogger Adnan Hajizade. Milli, responsible for alternative video reports posted online, celebrated the day in prison.

His friends worldwide, however, also marked the day in what was billed on numerous Facebook pages as a day for Global Emotional Warming. Twitter was also used to spread the news.

Fighting windmills? Take a pill explains more.

Your friends and supporters gathered together all around the world to celebrate the day of Global Emotional Warming (that's how we named your birthday), to remember stories about you, to drink for both you and Adnan and even sing ‘Happy birthday’ in Azerbaijani. Your birthday became a flashmob of parties in London, Paris, Strasbourg, Istanbul, Ankara, Budapest, New York, Houston, Moscow, Basel and other cities of the World.

Other friends with blogs also posted entries to mark the occasion and toast their imprisoned friend. Support Adnan and Emin said that the event represented freedom and solidarity everywhere.

What happened this night?

Did you hear this whisper?

Did you hear this song of Freedom?

Emin was physically in a prison in Baku but he celebrated his birthday all around the world!

Baku is sometimes called the city of winds… Well yesterday, wind was blowing. It was a gust of wind that inspired us in Baku, in Istanbul, in Moscow, in Essex, in London, in Paris, in Strasbourg, in Budapest, in New York etc.

Emin was in prison but he was also in the voice of a Georgian singer in Budapest, in the heart of an Azerbaijani student in Essex, in the soul of a French girl in Strasbourg, in the veins of a young blogger in Baku, singing with his friends in Istanbul and drinking in an English pub…

Freedom and solidarity were everywhere.

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines agrees.

Yesterday (October 14th) friends across several cities around the world, celebrated one person's birthday. Emin Milli turned 30. And though right now, he is behind bars in some God forsaken detention facility in Azerbaijan, his friends and supporters all around, showed once again that freedom has no boundaries, nor does friendship.

London, Essex, Istanbul, Paris, Strasbourg, Baku, Moscow and New York were among those few cities where Emin's friends got together to raise their glasses to a one very bright young man.

The blogger also remembers that Milli's associate and friend, Adnan Hajizade, spent his birthday in prison in July, as does Ali S. Novruzov in an entry on the Frontline Club blog. L4L, a new Azeri blog, even says that a local Baku-based rock band dedicated a concert to Milli.

Talking about normal… Yesterday one of the most talented Azerbaijani rock-bands Ozan […] dedicated their usual gig at Corner-pub in Baku to Emin Milli’s birthday. This is a very courageous move for Azerbaijan. This is the move that shows heart and fearlessness. When I said their singer and guitarist Nurlan halaldir(“all hail”) today, he answered: “Ilkin, it’s normal”.

No, Nurlan, it’s not normal. People that surround us every day are normal. Living their lives, not even trying to know what is going on. Too scared to go beyond normal. What you have done was beyond normal! […]

Meanwhile, as the trial of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade continues, Global Voices Online also wishes both detained blogger activists belated birthday greetings and hopes for their speedy release in a trial which most independent observers consider to be politically motivated.

More details on the case against the two video bloggers and youth activists is available in English on the OL! blog. Coverage in Azerbaijani is also available. The online Azerbaijan Network Television has also posted more videos of events worldwide celebrating Milli's birthday.

Georgia: New Media Forum

Onnik Krikorian — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:00:12 +0000

Dodie Kharkheli (aka Dodie Kissie, Dodka), Giga Paitchadze (aka Dv0rsky), Mari Talakhadze (aka Sweet), New Media Forum, Tbilisi, Georgia: Video grab © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2009

Following last year's Caucasus Bar Camp in Tbilisi, Georgia, came this week's New Media Forum supported by the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) and the Mtatsminda Park. With the Georgian blogosphere arguably the least developed in the region, the two-day event sought to evangelize the potential of new and social media to a specialist audience.

Around 200 journalists, students and social activists will gather in the amusement park on mount Mtatsminda to learn more about new media opportunities, blogging, social networks, citizen journalism, podcasting, Internet TV, contact management systems, and of course, social impact of new media.

Global Voices Online also presented at the event along with guest speakers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, U.K., and the U.S. The event also launched Blogroll.ge, a portal designed to aggregate, rate, rank and populize blogs in the former Soviet republic. The forum was covered by the local mainstream TV and print media as well as by bloggers.

It also gave Global Voices Online's Caucasus Editor the opportunity to interview three of Georgia's most prominent and prolific new media advocates, Dodie Kissie (http://dodka.ge and http://ni2news.ge), Dv0rsky (http://www.dgiuri.com and http://www.face.ge), and Sweet (http://www.sweet.ge).

Interview with Georgian bloggers from onewmphoto on Vimeo.

Lebanon: 2nd Arab Blogger Meeting Planned

Amira Al Hussaini — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:00:27 +0000

Arab bloggers from 19 countries will meet in Beirut from December 7 to 12. Check out the event's website for updates on the Social Arab Web: 2nd Arab Bloggers Meeting.

Arab-American Blogger Leila Abu-Saba Mourned

Amira Al Hussaini — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:04:40 +0000

Lebanese-American blogger Leila Abu-Saba has died after a long battle with cancer. Bloggers who have interacted with her over the years recall her merits and endless quest for peace.

Writing as Bedounia at Dove's Eye View, Leila started blogging in January 2004. In that month she wrote:

The point of this blog is to focus on a vision for peace. Concentrating on the solution is the only way to bring that about.

When her father died in 2006, Leila wrote:

Elias Abu-Saba lived the values I hope to promote in this blog: mutual tolerance, social justice, and concern for the earth. He wanted to see those values embodied in Lebanon, his beloved homeland, as well as in
America, his adopted country. Because many people in Lebanon and around the world read Dove's Eye View, I am going to tell you some important things you must know about him.

More on Mr Abu-Saba's amazing story here.

Sympathies from around the world poured in after Leila's death on October 12.

From Egypt, The Arabist has fond memories of Leila, saying:

Leila Abu Saba, of the blog Dove’s Eye View, passed away yesterday after a long struggle with cancer. Laila was a frequent reader of this blog and, especially in its early days, a prolific commenter. She was dedicated to peaceful coexistence among Palestinians and Israelis and, more generally, Muslims, Christians and Jews. We agreed on these issues but disagreed about her pacifism (or my anti-pacifism). She was an optimist, as this entry on her blog from a year ago, “Hello Kind World” shows.

Fellow Lebanese-American blogger Dr Assad Abu Khalil, or the Angry Arab, writes:

I never met Leila, but she often communicated with me on Facebook and on email. She even brought me books from the Middle East. She once participated in a “fly a kite for peace” affair in Oakland, and I wrote some smart ass comments and mocked it. She was not pleased.

John Ballard, at Newshoggers, is distraught:

Leila Abu-Saba has died of cancer.
A part of me dies with her.
I cannot write any more about her yet.

At About.com: Middle East Issues, Pierre Tristam notes:

We'd exchanged many emails and links over the few years we knew each other through our sites. She never let anyone imagine that her voice would be silenced. Not so soon. Or that her copious world of words would become a memorial. But there they are. Let's hope the site, Leila's testament and sanctuary to supreme civility, never disappears.

And Canadian Maryanne Stroud Gabbani, who lives in Egypt, borrows a title from one of Leila's blog posts to mourn her friend. In A Dove Has Flown, Maryanne writes:

One of the wonders of the internet is the ability to keep up with friends of ours from all over the world…and to make these friends in the first place. Many years ago when I first started blogging, Leila Abu-Saba posted some comments on my blog and we became net friends. We followed each other's blogs and when we discovered Facebook we connected there as well. For quite a few years, Leila was battling first breast cancer and then liver cancer as well and just recently she lost her fight to stay with us.

She continues:

The title to this piece is a link to Leila's blog post which was a meditation on cancer, forgiveness, and politics. I don't know anyone who could have expressed this better. Friends of hers are making sure that her books get published, the task that she was trying hard to finish in her last days. Look for them and let her words, thoughts, and spirit live on.

Leila's manifesto for hope is a good place to start.

On Twitter, Middle East commentator Marc Lynch remembers:

Lebanese blogger Mustafa, who blogs at Beirut Spring, shares similar sentiments:

And her sister-in-law Debbie McLeod writes:

May her soul rest in peace.

Hong Kong: Asia Blogfest09

Oiwan Lam — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:43:55 +0000

The first Asia Blogger festival will take place in Hong Kong from 6-8 of November. Details of the program can be found here.