NAKCHIVAN, Azerbaijan – US Deputy State Secretary Daniel Fried has expressed concern over detention of a journalist working for US-funded radio station in Azerbaijan. Fried’s statement on Saturday comes a week after the United States said it was “deeply disturbed” by imprisonment of Ilgar Nasibov, calling it a sign of deteriorating media freedom in the country.

Nasibov was jailed on December 6 after turning up at court expecting to be released after being cleared of defamation suit brought by Nakhchivan City Police Department Deputy Chief. Instead, a judge tried Nasibov without counsel, and sentenced him to serve three months in jail.

Azerbaijan is the leading jailer of journalist in Europe and Central Asia and has the fifth-highest number of reporters behind bars worldwide. It is also among the places where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) research.

For More Information, please see:

TODAY.AZ – Daniel Fried: “Strong countries do not send their reporters to jail” – 15 December 2007

Press TV – US condemns Azeri reporter’s arrest – 9 December 2007

AFP – US ‘disturbed by imprisonment of journalist in Azerbaijan – 8 December 2007

CPJ – Tenth Azerbaijani jounalist imprisoned – 6 December 2007

CPJ – Backsliders – 2 May 2007