The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the World Editors Forum and the International Association of Sports Newspapers have protested to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev against the jailing of four journalists for defamation after his administration promised that measures were being taken to decriminalize the offense.

"We are astonished that four journalists have been jailed for defamation only two weeks after an official in your administration, Ali Hasanov, assured a WAN-IFRA delegation that serious measures were being taken to improve the situation of the independent press, including the decriminalisation of defamation and libel,"; the three organisations said in a letter to President Aliyev.

"The jailing of four journalists in one day for carrying out their profession - which brings the total number of journalists currently held in prison to seven - only confirms the findings of our delegation that there is a "pervasive climate of intimidation and fear"; in the Azeri media.";

On 8 October, a court sentenced Natig Mukhtarli, a writer for online sports portal fanat.az, and Zahir Azamat, the website's director, to one-year and six-month prison terms respectively for insulting the president of a local football club. They were sentenced for "criticising the financial management and leadership decision making"; of Mais Masimov, president of Khazar-Lankaran Football Club. They were also ordered to pay Mr Masimov 20 percent of their salaries for the duration of their imprisonment.

On the same day, the Baku Court of Appeals upheld the sentencing of Sardar Alibeili, editor-in-chief of the weekly Nota, and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu, to three months in jail, and the conditional sentencing of journalist Ramiz Tagiyev to six months of corrective labour, for defamation.

A delegation from WAN-IFRA visited Azerbaijan in late September to assess the press freedom situation and called on the government to introduce "drastic reforms"; to create full media freedom.

The letter to President Aliyev said:

"We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our grave concern at the jailing of four journalists for defamation only two weeks after your administration assured a WAN-IFRA delegation that measures were being taken to decriminalise the offence.

"According to reports, on 8 October a court sentenced Natig Mukhtarli, a writer for online sports portal fanat.az, and Zahir Azamat, the website's director, to one-year and six-month prison terms respectively for insulting the president of a local football club. They were sentenced under Articles 147.2 and 148 of the Azeri penal code for "criticising the financial management and leadership decision making"; of Mais Masimov, president of Khazar-Lankaran Football Club. They were also ordered to pay Mr Masimov 20 percent of their salaries for the duration of their imprisonment.

"On the same day, the Baku Court of Appeals upheld the sentencing of Sardar Alibeili, editor-in-chief of the weekly Nota, and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu to three months in jail, and the conditional sentencing of journalist Ramiz Tagiyev to six months of corrective labour, for defamation. The journalists had been found guilty of insulting Tahmasib Novruzov, chairman of the union Azadlyg Harakatchilari, accusing him of acting as a government mouthpiece. This is the second time in two years that Mr Alibeili and Mr Novruzoglu have been imprisoned for defamation.

"We are astonished that four journalists have been jailed for defamation only two weeks after an official in your administration, Ali Hasanov, assured a WAN-IFRA delegation that serious measures were being taken to improve the situation of the independent press, including the decriminalisation of defamation and libel. The jailing of four journalists in one day for carrying out their profession - which brings the total number of journalists currently held in prison to seven - only confirms the findings of our delegation that there is a "pervasive climate of intimidation and fear"; in the Azeri media.

"We respectfully remind you that imprisoning journalists for writing and publishing critical comments constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We believe that a civil award of reasonable damages is adequate and appropriate relief in all proven cases of defamation.

"We call on you to take all necessary steps to decriminalise defamation and repeat our delegation's call on you to introduce drastic reforms to create full media freedom in Azerbaijan. We urge you take all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of free expression.";

More WAN-IFRA press freedom protests can be found here.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world's newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

The World Editors Forum is the organisation within WAN-IFRA that represents editors-in-chief and other senior news executives.

The International Association of Sports Newspapers (IASN) acts as the sports branch of WAN-IFRA. It exists to defend and promote the interests and freedom of the sport press. The founding and Board members of IASN are six of the world's leading sport newspapers: La Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, El Mundo Deportivo and Marca in Spain, L'Equipe in France, Olé in Argentina, and Lance! in Brazil.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org.