Azerbaijani officials have impeccable timing. Just one day before Human Rights Watch released a 94-page report documenting the regime’s attempt to limit freedom of expression, pro-government Lider TV aired a (horribly awkward) sex tape featuring an opposition newspaper editor. From RFE/RL:
Azer Ahmedov, a technical editor of the opposition newspaper "Azadliq," admitted a few days after the video appeared online that he is in the video. Ahmedov, who is separated from his wife, then resigned from his job and reportedly went to Turkey.
In a commercial showed widely on Lider TV, viewers were told to watch the evening news show "Seda." It was during this program that the video of Ahmedov and a woman having sex was shown. The announcer says that what is happening in the video is a result of the "asymetric policy from the West."
While engaging in oral sex, the Lider TV moderator said "we have to show this to the Western world, especially to France, so they know that their methods are very close to our opposition."
Azeri officials have become adept at controlling journalists since the government lifted official censorship in 1998. While accusations of drug use, homosexuality and defamation are common, the sex tape route is a new and particularly disheartening twist. Look for more of the same in the coming weeks as the government prepares for the November 7th parliamentary election.
For the curious, here is a link to the actual footage. Warning, it's completely NSFW .
P.S. RFE/RL might want to hire some new editors. That last sentence is more than a bit misleading.
Azer Ahmedov, a technical editor of the opposition newspaper "Azadliq," admitted a few days after the video appeared online that he is in the video. Ahmedov, who is separated from his wife, then resigned from his job and reportedly went to Turkey.
In a commercial showed widely on Lider TV, viewers were told to watch the evening news show "Seda." It was during this program that the video of Ahmedov and a woman having sex was shown. The announcer says that what is happening in the video is a result of the "asymetric policy from the West."
While engaging in oral sex, the Lider TV moderator said "we have to show this to the Western world, especially to France, so they know that their methods are very close to our opposition."
Azeri officials have become adept at controlling journalists since the government lifted official censorship in 1998. While accusations of drug use, homosexuality and defamation are common, the sex tape route is a new and particularly disheartening twist. Look for more of the same in the coming weeks as the government prepares for the November 7th parliamentary election.
For the curious, here is a link to the actual footage. Warning, it's completely NSFW .
P.S. RFE/RL might want to hire some new editors. That last sentence is more than a bit misleading.
