European Games: OSCE, Amnesty say they are banned by Azerbaijan

Baku: The OSCE said on Wednesday Azerbaijan ordered it to shut down its local office ahead of the European Games, while Amnesty International complained the ex-Soviet country barred it from visiting the capital.

"The government of Azerbaijan has notified the OSCE of its intention to close the organisation`s office in Baku," said the spokesman for the OSCE Baku office, Rashad Huseynov.

The security organisation has been given a month to shut down its local office, beginning from June 4, Huseynov told AFP, referring to a letter from Azerbaijan`s foreign ministry.

"Discussions are continuing at the OSCE headquarters (in Vienna)," he added.

The move comes ahead of the inaugural edition of the European Games, a sporting extravaganza billed as Europe`s answer to the Olympics.

The tightly-controlled, energy-rich country has pumped vast resources into hosting the games on June 12-28, building state-of-the-art facilities in a bid to burnish its image.

Local rights activists had hoped that the glitzy event would draw international attention to the country`s dismal rights record.

Amnesty International said earlier that it was forced to cancel a planned visit starting Wednesday after the government told the group that delegates would not be welcome until after the games.

The international watchdog had intended to hold a briefing to highlight a crackdown on journalists, opposition members and activists ahead of the sporting event.In a new report titled "Azerbaijan: the Repression Games. The voices you won`t hear at the first European Games", the rights group said the crackdown on rights defenders had left Azerbaijan "without independent voices".

"Behind the image trumpeted by the government of a forward-looking, modern nation is a state where criticism of the authorities is routinely and increasingly met with repression," said the report, which was released on Wednesday.

"The legacy of these games will be to further encourage repressive authorities around the world to view major international sporting events as a ticket to international prestige and respectability," said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty`s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.

The move against Amnesty came as British group Platform said that one of their activists, Emma Hughes, who had been travelling to support political prisoners, had been detained on arrival in Azerbaijan and told her she was on a "red list" of people who cannot enter the country.

Azerbaijan`s government did not comment on the claims on Wednesday.

Amnesty accuses Baku of a "systematic dismantling of civil society" ahead of the games, by harassing, jailing and torturing human rights activists and pro-democracy campaigners.

In an apparent bid to silence criticism, many dissidents have been imprisoned, as has prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

Others detainees include activist Leyla Yunus, who was arrested last summer along with her husband after she called for a boycott of the games citing the government`s human rights record.

Amnesty has also called for the release of activist Rasul Jafarov, who was arrested as he planned a campaign to highlight abuses and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison on what the rights group describes as trumped-up charges.

The watchdog meanwhile urged governments and the European Olympic Committee to pressure Azerbaijan into releasing prisoners of conscience and respect freedom of expression, association and assembly.

President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled since his father died in 2003, strongly denies accusations of abuses, while his administration has dismissed criticism as a smear campaign.

Azerbaijan sees the games as an opportunity to build its international profile, and has set aside $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros) for infrastructure, travel and accommodation expenses for some 6,000 sportspeople and their delegations from across Europe.