Salacious Video Defames Journalist Critical of Azerbaijani Government
A compromising video has appeared on the Internet of an investigative journalist who has been extensively reporting on government corruption in Azerbaijan.
Khadija Ismayilova, a radio talk show host, is afraid the sexually explicit images could ignite religious rage against her in the conservative country.
The video of her and her boyfriend was recorded via a hidden camera in her bedroom and then posted anonymously on a website imitating the homepage of the New Equality Party, a rival of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.
Social mores in the Muslim society are not as strict as they are in neighboring Iran, Ismayilova says, but they’re “similar to rural Turkey.” Honor killings for behavior outside of accepted morals are a reality in Azerbaijan.
The video surfaced a week after Ismayilova received a threatening letter by mail “containing photos of a personal nature,” according to a news release from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a democracy advocacy organization that broadcasts her shows and publishes articles that she writes.
“I received a package with pictures suggesting I have a sexual life,” Ismayilova said, “and the note saying: ‘You whore, behave. Or you will be defamed.’ “
People in high places could have reason to be angry with Ismayilova for her reporting. She has written articles implying that the daughters of President Ilham Aliyev could have a secret ownership stake in Azerfon, the country’s major mobile telecom company. She has also connected the president’s family to the ownership of a bank and alleged that the relationship was used for shady dealings.
Presidential spokesman Elnur Aslanov declined to comment on Ismayilova’s stories, but he condemned the video a day after it surfaced, blaming it on “subversive forces who try to violate the stability in Azerbaijan.”
Aslanov also said Thursday that authorities “will make all efforts to identify and punish the persons who are behind this dirty action.”
Ismayilova, however, calls the spokesman’s statements “absolutely insincere … absolutely outrageous.” She believes that the government is punishing her for her stories.
After all, the ruling party has raked her over the coals in print, she said, tying her ethnic background to Armenia.