Azerbaijani opposition leader says 30 activists detained, punished for protest

The Popular Front party - which has offices in the same building as the newspaper Azadliq - has called the planned eviction an attempt to pressure government opponents.

The 30 detained, out of about 100 protesters, were either sentenced to jail terms or ordered to pay fines for violating public order during the nonviolent demonstration in the capital, Baku, according to Popular Front deputy leader Fuad Mustafayev.

Baku's police security chief Shamil Seidli said the opposition did not have permission for the demonstration, but said that only 15 people were detained. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy over the number of detentions.

Mustafayev said that, of those detained, 13 were sentenced to maximum jail terms of 15 days for an administrative violation, one was jailed for five days and one for three days, while the remaining 15 people were fined.

The newspaper, Azadliq, was warned it would have to leave its offices, after a government property committee demanded thousands of dollars (euros) in back rent. The Popular Front, with its offices in the same building, also faces eviction.

Azadliq editor Ganimat Zahidov has been on a hunger strike for about two weeks, and an opposition spokesman said Wednesday his condition was worsening.

Opposition parties and independent media outlets have suffered frequent harassment in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state, which has been run by President Ilham Aliyev since 2003, when he succeeded his long-ruling father in elections denounced by the opposition. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/