Ramin Bayramov is an Azerbaijani journalist. Radio Free Europe described him in 2011 as a "prominent Islamic activist". [1]
On 11 August 2011, he was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities. Police stated that they found a pistol, a hand grenade, and drugs in a search of his home. [1] The following day, the National Security Ministry announced that he was arrested on suspicion of "treason, breach of national security and the incitement of mass unrest". However, these charges were not filed, and he was instead charged with possession of drugs and an illegal firearm. [2] In March, Bayramov was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. [3]
Amnesty International described the charges as "politically motivated" and "trumped up by Azerbaijan’s secular authorities in order to silence [his] coverage of religious issues". The organization designated Bayramov a prisoner of conscience. [2] Human Rights Watch called the charges "spurious". [3] Reporters Without Borders noted its "dismay", stating, "In all likelihood, Ramin Bayramov is the latest victim of the crackdown striking religious circles and pro-Iranian Azerbaijan." [4]
Human rights in Uzbekistan have been described as "abysmal" by Human Rights Watch, and the country has received heavy criticism from the UK and the US for alleged arbitrary arrests, religious persecution and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. Amnesty International stated that freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly continue to be restricted, and that relations between gay men are illegal.
Turkmenistan's human rights record has been heavily criticized by various countries and scholars worldwide. Standards in education and health declined markedly during the rule of President Saparmurat Niyazov.
The Independence Intifada or the Second Sahrawi Intifada and also May Intifada is a Sahrawi activist term for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara and south of Morocco. This event has also been called The El-Aaiun Intifada by the same sources.
The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized by Iranians and international human rights activists, writers, and NGOs. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have condemned prior and ongoing abuses in Iran in published critiques and several resolutions. The government is criticized both for restrictions and punishments that follow the Islamic Republic's constitution and law, and for "extrajudicial" actions by state actors, such as the torture, rape, and killing of political prisoners, and the beatings and killings of dissidents and other civilians. Capital punishment in Iran remains a matter of international concern.
The situation for human rights in Syria is considered one of the worst in the world and has been globally condemned by international organizations like the United Nations, Human rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the European Union. Civil liberties, political rights, freedom of speech and assembly are virtually non-existent under the Ba'athist government of Bashar al-Assad; which is regarded as "one of the world's most repressive regimes". The 50th edition of Freedom in the World, the annual report published by Freedom House since 1973, designates Syria as "Worst of the Worst" among the "Not Free" countries. The report lists Syria as one of the two countries to get the lowest possible score (1/100).
International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law.
Human rights in Georgia are guaranteed by the country's constitution. There is an independent human rights Public Defender of Georgia elected by the parliament to ensure such rights are enforced. However, it has been alleged by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United States Department of State and the Georgian opposition that these rights are often breached.
Human rights in Egypt are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt under the various articles of Chapter 3. The country is also a party to numerous international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, the state of human rights in the country has been criticized both in the past and the present, especially by foreign human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. As of 2022, Human Rights Watch has declared that Egypt's human rights crises under the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is "one of its worst ... in many decades", and that "tens of thousands of government critics, including journalists, peaceful activists, and human rights defenders, remain imprisoned on abusive 'terrorism' charges, many in lengthy pretrial detention." International human rights organizations, such as the aforementioned HRW and Amnesty International, have alleged that as of January 2020, there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. Other complaints made are of authorities harassing and detaining "relatives of dissidents abroad" and use of "vague 'morality' charges to prosecute LGBT people, female social media influencers, and survivors of sexual violence". The Egyptian government has frequently rejected such criticism, denying that any of the prisoners it holds are political prisoners.
Political repression of cyber-dissidents is the oppression or persecution of people for expressing their political views on the Internet.
Azimzhan Askarov was a Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. Of ethnic Uzbek descent, during the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.
Jabbar Savalan is an Azerbaijani blogger and political activist. On 4 May 2011, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison on charges of dealing drugs. The Azerbaijani government defended the ruling, but the European parliament and several human rights groups such as Amnesty International alleged the charges were fabricated and part of a pattern of framing government dissidents to silence them. He received a presidential pardon on 26 December 2011.
Bakhtiyar Ilyas oglu Hajiyev is an Azerbaijani activist and blogger who served a prison sentence from 2011 to 2012 on charges of evading military service. His imprisonment was protested by numerous human rights organizations.
Kouhyar Goudarzi is an Iranian human rights activist, journalist and blogger who was imprisoned several times by the government of Iran. He previously served as an editor of Radio Zamane. He is a member of Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), serving as the head from 2005-2009.
The Maldives ranks from the middle to the top third of international indexes of press freedom, indicating a large degree of freedom. Media discussion of religion, however, remains tightly restricted.
Anar Bayramli is an Azerbaijani journalist for Iran's Fars News Agency and Sahar television station. In June 2012, an Azerbaijan court sentenced him to two years' imprisonment on a charge of drug possession. Bayramli's family and several human rights organizations have described the charges as politically motivated. Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience.
Salijon Abdurahmanov is an Uzbek journalist who contributed to Radio Free Europe, Voice of America and uznews.net. In October 2008, he was given a ten-year prison sentence for marijuana and opium possession. He asserted his innocence of the charges, stating that the drugs were planted by police officers. Several international human rights NGOs called for his release, including Amnesty International, which designated him a prisoner of conscience. In 2014 he was awarded the Johann Philipp Palm prize for freedom of expression and the press. He was freed from detention in October 2017.
Khadija Rovshan qizi Ismayilova, also Ismailova, is an Azerbaijani investigative journalist and radio host who is currently working for the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, until recently as the host of the daily debate show İşdən Sonra. She is a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Most Azerbaijanis receive their information from mainstream television, which is unswervingly pro-government and under strict government control. According to a 2012 report of the NGO "Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)" Azerbaijani citizens are unable to access objective and reliable news on human rights issues relevant to Azerbaijan and the population is under-informed about matters of public interest.
Rauf Habibulla oghlu Mirgadirov is an Azerbaijani columnist and journalist. He has worked for the Baku based Russian-language newspaper Zerkalo. A believer in "citizen diplomacy" between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mirgadirov was arrested for allegedly spying for Armenia and has been detained since April 2014. In December 2015, he was found guilty and sentenced to six years of prison. Following an appeal of his case, the ruling was upheld in March 2016, but Mirgadirov was released on suspended sentence.
Asaduzzaman Noor, better known as Asad Noor, is an exiled Bangladeshi blogger and human rights activist. Noor is an advocate for freedom of expression and LGBT rights, who has criticised religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh. He has been prosecuted multiple times by Bangladeshi authorities for alleged blasphemy and hurting religious sentiments. He has been living in exile since 2019.