Azerbaijan on Wednesday deported two activists from Amnesty International in a move the advocacy group denounced as an "attack on freedom of expression" in the lead-up to parliamentary elections.
It also came as Europe's top rights watchdog withdrew from a task force with Azerbaijan, criticising authorities in the oil-rich state where the rights situation has "deteriorated dramatically".
In a statement, London-based Amnesty said two of its delegates, both Georgian nationals, were deported from Azerbaijan by immigration officials upon their arrival at the airport in Baku.
"The deportation of our staff adds to a sad litany of journalists and human rights defenders being targeted, detained and jailed simply for carrying out their work," it said.
"There is no let-up in the government's repressive campaign to stifle all criticism and dissent."
Dissent is kept under strict control in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, and opposition to President Ilham Aliyev is often met with a tough government response.
Earlier Wednesday, the Council of Europe said it was withdrawing from a human rights working group made up of government officials, members of parliament and human rights activists.
"Secretary General Thorbjoern Jagland informed the Committee of Ministers today of his decision to end the organisation's participation in the joint working group on human rights issues in Azerbaijan," the pan-European council said in a statement.
"Since October 2014, a Council of Europe representative had been attending meetings in Baku intended to revive the dialogue between civil society and Azerbaijani authorities.
"Despite this initiative, the overall situation of human rights defenders in the country has deteriorated dramatically."
It said growing numbers of human rights advocates have been imprisoned and that the Council of Europe has received reports of "unacceptable detention conditions."
Among the members of the working group was the country's most prominent investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist, Khadija Ismaylova, who was condemned to seven and a half years in prison last month on corruption charges she denounced as trumped-up.
Rights groups say the government has stepped up pressure on critical journalists and political opponents since Aliyev's election for a third term in 2013.
In September, election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) refused to observe the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, citing excessive restrictions placed on them by Baku.
Aliyev strongly denies rights abuses and recently threatened to "revise" relations with the European Union over criticism on the issue.
He took over in 2003 after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled newly independent Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
Azerbaijan on Wednesday deported two activists from Amnesty International in a move the advocacy group denounced as an “attack on freedom of expression” in the lead-up to parliamentary elections.
It also came as Europe’s top rights watchdog withdrew from a task force with Azerbaijan, criticising authorities in the oil-rich state where the rights situation has “deteriorated dramatically”.
In a statement, London-based Amnesty said two of its delegates, both Georgian nationals, were deported from Azerbaijan by immigration officials upon their arrival at the airport in Baku.
“The deportation of our staff adds to a sad litany of journalists and human rights defenders being targeted, detained and jailed simply for carrying out their work,” it said.
“There is no let-up in the government’s repressive campaign to stifle all criticism and dissent.”
Dissent is kept under strict control in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, and opposition to President Ilham Aliyev is often met with a tough government response.
Earlier Wednesday, the Council of Europe said it was withdrawing from a human rights working group made up of government officials, members of parliament and human rights activists.
“Secretary General Thorbjoern Jagland informed the Committee of Ministers today of his decision to end the organisation’s participation in the joint working group on human rights issues in Azerbaijan,” the pan-European council said in a statement.
“Since October 2014, a Council of Europe representative had been attending meetings in Baku intended to revive the dialogue between civil society and Azerbaijani authorities.
“Despite this initiative, the overall situation of human rights defenders in the country has deteriorated dramatically.”
It said growing numbers of human rights advocates have been imprisoned and that the Council of Europe has received reports of “unacceptable detention conditions.”
Among the members of the working group was the country’s most prominent investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist, Khadija Ismaylova, who was condemned to seven and a half years in prison last month on corruption charges she denounced as trumped-up.
Rights groups say the government has stepped up pressure on critical journalists and political opponents since Aliyev’s election for a third term in 2013.
In September, election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) refused to observe the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, citing excessive restrictions placed on them by Baku.
Aliyev strongly denies rights abuses and recently threatened to “revise” relations with the European Union over criticism on the issue.
He took over in 2003 after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled newly independent Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
