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Azerbaijan accused of ramping up repression of critics ahead of hosting UN climate summit

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Azerbaijan accused of ramping up repression of critics ahead of hosting UN climate summit

As representatives from nearly 200 countries, along with hundreds of journalists, arrived in Azerbaijan in November for the U.N. climate conference known this year as COP29, they bring with them a level of scrutiny the hosts aren’t accustomed to — and don’t often tolerate.

Azerbaijan has had a poor human rights record for many years and the government has regularly targeted journalists, activists and independent politicians. President Ilham Aliyev and his administration are accused by human rights organizations of spearheading an intensifying crackdown on freedom of speech ahead of the climate summit, including against climate activists and journalists.

Aliyev’s father, Haidar, ruled Azerbaijan from 1993 until he died in 2003 and Ilham took over. Both suppressed dissent as the country of almost 10 million people on the Caspian Sea basked in growing wealth from huge oil and natural gas reserves.

Elections since independence from the Soviet Union in the 1990s haven’t been regarded as fully free or fair. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Azerbaijan’s most recent parliamentary elections in September took place in a “restrictive” environment. They were marked by turnout of 37% and no opposition party won any seats.

Human Rights Watch said the “vicious” crackdown against journalists and human rights activists has intensified over the last two years with phony criminal charges against critics and highly restrictive laws that make it hard for media and activists to work.

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Ahead of COP29, Azerbaijan’s authorities have extended the pretrial detention of at least 11 journalists from Azerbaijan’s remaining independent news outlets on currency smuggling charges related to alleged funding from Western donors.

Azerbaijani government officials did not respond to numerous requests from The Associated Press for an interview or comment on their actions.

A look at just five of Baku’s critics currently detained in Azerbaijan:

Ulvi Hasanli (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

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Ulvi Hasanli and Sevinj Vagifgizi

Hasalni and Vagifgizi are journalists and leaders of Abzas Media, an independent online outlet. Abzas Media has investigated reports of protests and pollution at a gold mine in western Azerbaijan, reconstruction in the Karabakh region and corruption allegations against high-ranking officials.

Hasanli and Vagifgizi, along with four colleagues, were arrested in November 2023. Azerbaijani officials allege they conspired to smuggle money into Azerbaijan and claim they found more than $40,000 in Hasanli’s home. The journalists deny the allegations and Hasanli said the money was planted.

“That is why they decided to eliminate Ulvi and his team … to make sure they would no longer be able to expose their wrongdoings,” Rubaba Guliyeva, Hasanli’s wife told The Associated Press.

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Sevinj Vagifgizi (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Hasanli and Vagifgizi are imprisoned in Baku with no trial date. Guliyeva called conditions there “extremely bad” and said she had seen bruises on her husband and had been told that their meetings and phone calls are monitored. Hasanli is allowed brief visits with his 2-year-old daughter but struggles when she leaves, his wife said.

Vagifgizi’s mother Ophelya Maharramova said the prison has water shortages and that the water isn’t drinkable. Prisoners “suffer from hair loss and their teeth are rotting,” she said.

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Despite being imprisoned, Vagifgizi still asks what investigations Abzas Media is publishing, her mother said: “It’s what makes her feel motivated.”

Guliyeva said states should boycott COP29 because of Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record.

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Gubad Ibadoghlu (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

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Gubad Ibadoghlu

Ibadoghlu is an academic and economist at the London School of Economics who was detained in Azerbaijan in July 2023. He was moved to house arrest in April after spending months in prison.

He was accused by Azerbaijan of selling counterfeit money, but his children dispute the charges. They believe he was targeted because he investigated corruption in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry and because he is an opposition figure. Ibadoghlu’s sons say he also set up a charitable organization in the United Kingdom to work with the UK Home Office to try to transfer money confiscated by the National Crime Agency from rich Azerbaijanis to the charity to serve the people of Azerbaijan.

Ibadoghlu is also the chairman of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Prosperity Movement, which has been denied registration as a political party in Azerbaijan.

His son Emin Bayramov told AP his father was arrested by unidentified police officers who beat his mother when she questioned who they were. Ibadoghlu has heath issues including diabetes and his family say he is being denied medical care. Another son, Ibad Bayramov, told AP the International Committee of the Red Cross had tried to visit him four times but were not allowed to see him.

Ibadoghlu also has no trial date. His sons have accused Azerbaijan’s government of delaying it until after the climate summit to avoid negative publicity.

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Azerbaijan hosting COP29 while carrying out a crackdown on freedom of speech brings “shame on the international community,” Emin Bayramov said.

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Anar Mammadli (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Anar Mammadli

Mammadli is a human rights and climate activist who was detained by masked men and driven away while he was on his way to pick up his child from nursery in April in Baku. He has also been accused of smuggling and of trying to unlawfully bring money into Azerbaijan. He denies the charges.

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He heads an election monitoring and democracy group that joined others to co-found the Climate of Justice Initiative in Azerbaijan. In an open letter, the groups criticized Azerbaijan as “one of the most problematic countries in Europe in terms of political and civil liberties.”

Azerbaijan, the groups said, has not implemented a systematic policy to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate emissions have continued to rise and oil production has polluted land, it said.

Human Rights Watch said Mammadli has been a key defender of human rights in Azerbaijan, highlighting violations of “fundamental freedoms.” He has called for freedom for political prisoners and an improved legal and political environment for human rights activists.

In a previous case, Mammadli was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison in 2014 on charges of tax evasion, illegal business and abuse of office. Amnesty International said the charges were trumped up, and he was awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize shortly after he was sentenced. He was pardoned in 2016.

Like the others, Mammadli is imprisoned awaiting a trial date.

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Akif Gurbanov (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Akif Gurbanov

Gurbanov is chairman of the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, an independent organization that seeks to develop a more open society through democratic initiatives such as training young journalists, human rights defenders and economists.

He was detained in March after police searched his home and raided the IDI’s office. Later police accused him and others of currency smuggling. At the same time, authorities raided the offices of the online news platform Toplum TV and the civil society organization Platform III Republic — both co-founded by Gurbanov.

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Toplum TV worked with the other organizations to train young journalists, Human Rights Watch said. Platform III Republic is an organization that promotes discussion about Azerbaijani politics, good governance and proposes development strategies for the country’s future.

Gurbanov’s wife, Ayan Musayeva, told AP that he was arrested for his work “defending human rights, providing alternative information, speaking the truth.”

States attending COP29 in Baku, she said, should be calling for his immediate release along with “all other political prisoners in Azerbaijan.”

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Video: Israel and Hezbollah Trade Deadly Attacks

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Video: Israel and Hezbollah Trade Deadly Attacks

Israeli strikes pounded areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a day after eight people were killed, according to the authorities, in the northernmost attack on Lebanese soil since the start of the war. Israeli officials said two men were killed in a rocket attack from Lebanon on Tuesday.

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Germany braces under collapsing government and looming Trump trade war

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Germany braces under collapsing government and looming Trump trade war

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With the re-election of former President Donald Trump to the White House and the collapse of the coalition government under German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany is bracing for an economically and politically dubious time. 

From the campaign trail, Trump pledged to increase import tariffs on friends and foes alike under the “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act” which would increase all U.S. tariffs to match the taxes enforced by each corresponding country.  

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“If India, China, or any other country hits us with a 100 or 200 percent tariff on American-made goods, we will hit them with the same exact tariff,” he outlined in his campaign agenda. “If they charge US, we charge THEM—an eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff, same exact amount.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks to a rally crowd on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 at the Dodge County Airport in Juneau, Wisconsin. (Jovanny Hernandez/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

GERMANY’S SCHOLZ REJECTS CALLS FOR NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE AS COALITION GOVERNMENT COLLAPSES

However, it is unclear if the president-elect still plans to push these specific tariff increases, as he has also suggested there should be a 10% tariff on imports from all countries, as well as 60% duties on imports from China, according to a Reuters report. 

China was not the only country in Trump’s crosshairs, as the now president-elect also referred to the European Union (EU) as a “mini China” and warned the bloc would have to pay up.

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“They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our farm products. They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States,” he told supporters at an October rally in Pennsylvania. “No, no, no. They are going to have to pay a big price.”

Some economic experts have warned that increasing tariffs – which are paid by companies importing the goods, not by government entities – could lead to rising costs worldwide, including in the U.S., as well as further inflation.

A report earlier this month by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) pointed to findings by Germany’s Institute for Economic Research in Cologne that said the promised Trump tariffs are estimated to cost the country roughly $127 billion over the next four years. 

Olaf Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz leaves the Bellevue Palace in Berlin on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

FEDERAL MILITARY DRAFT AGENCY REPOSTS MESSAGE SUGGESTING US IS BECOMING 1936 NAZI GERMANY: REPORT

“Trump’s victory does not bode well for a Germany that is dependent on U.S. security and thrives on open markets,” the GMF said in its report on how the U.S. election will impact Germany. “And uncertainty in Europe’s largest economy is not ideal when the EU needs to find its place in a world in which the U.S. president is not expected to support the traditional, rules-based international order.”

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However, it is not only Germany’s flagging economy that could spell uncertainty for Berlin’s international standing, as Scholz faces a vote of no confidence in January after he fired his Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his coalition government collapsed. 

A confidence vote is now set to be held in Germany on December 16 – which Scholz, given his minority status, is expected to lose. 

European Parliament drilling

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Jan. 17, 2024. (Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images)

The most likely next step will be for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve the parliament and call for elections which are not expected to be held on Feb. 23, 2025.  

The EU now stares down a potential trade war with the Trump administration while one of its leading nations, both geopolitically and economically, will essentially sit as a lame duck while Berlin waits to see who will be next to lead the country. 

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German opposition leader Friedrich Merz – who could find himself the next German chancellor – said he intends to cut a deal with Trump.

In an interview with Stern magazine, Merz reportedly said, “In Germany, we have never really articulated and enforced our interests well enough, and we have to change that.

“The Americans are much more on the offensive. It shouldn’t end with only one side profiting, but rather with us making good arrangements for both sides,” Merz said according to a Bloomberg report on the interview. “Trump would call it a deal.”

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There is no safe zone in Gaza, warns UNRWA

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There is no safe zone in Gaza, warns UNRWA

UNRWA’s Scott Anderson described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as critical and called on all sides to respect civilian safe zones.

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The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains critical and could deteriorate further, warns the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA).

Speaking to Euronews in Brussels, UNRWA Director in Gaza, Scott Anderson, called on all parties to the conflict to respect the sanctity of safe places for civilians.

“There’s nowhere safe in Gaza. Including the safe zones. And unfortunately, all parties to the conflict are not respecting the sanctity of sites that should be safe for civilians, including hospitals and schools.” said Anderson.

He stressed that both UNRWA facilities and Palestinian schools have been targeted, appealing to all sides to uphold the protection of these locations so civilians can find safety for themselves and their families.

Too cosy with Hamas?

Anderson also responded to past allegations that his agency was too lenient with Hamas, which the EU designates as a terrorist organisation.

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He underlined that UNRWA took swift action after discovering that some of its employees were linked to the group.

When asked if he could confidently say that UNRWA had removed all Hamas operatives, Anderson was frank in his reply:

“No, I don’t think anybody can say anything with certainty about their workforce anywhere. We have over 13,000 people. We do take ‘neutrality’ very seriously, as shown by the commissioner general’s very swift action. But no, I can’t with certainty say that’s done,” he said.

Anderson also reiterated that they don’t have any evidence of employing Hamas members, and if they did, the necessary actions would have already been taken.

You can watch the full interview on the situation in Gaza on Thursday and online at euronews.com.

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