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BAKU. September 3, 2010: Gunmen opened fire on Friday on a crowd outside a mosque, killing one person and wounding another, in Azerbaijan's Gumbashly village near the border with Iran, local media reported.

NAKHCHIVAN. September 2, 2010: Pressures and provocations against journalists in Nakhchivan have strengthened on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections in November. IRFS reports that Elman Abbasov and Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev, the zonal correspondents of the Institution of Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), and Ilgar Nasibov, the representative of the NGO and Democracy Development Resource Center are among the persecuted people in Nakhchivan.

"Anyone who comes to visit our place are subjected to pressure. They are told that I am involved in bad things.” Sharur Department of the MNS is especially active in this process, Mehdiyev said.

In a separate incident, the representative of the communal department No. 5 approached Elman Abbasov in one of the central streets in Nakhchivan, and began to insult him, ostensibly for not paying for the communal services. "But I do not have any debts," Abbasov said.

 "The same unknown individuals meet me in the streets, and shout out the same phrases: "You are traitors." Some people call on my mobile phone and insult me," Nasibov said.

BAKU. August 30, 2010: Today at about 1.00 p.m. about 50 residents of Binagadi district of Baku staged an action of protest at the presidential administration to protest at demolition of their houses. The protesters were stopped by the policemen in front of the reception area, put into buses and driven to the Binagadi district executive administration, reported Turan’s correspondent.

BAKU. August 19, 2010: The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan rejected the appeal of the imprisoned Azeri bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli sustaining the lower court’s verdict against them. The bloggers were arrested charged with hooliganism and sentenced to two and two and a half years of imprisonment respectively, after having been attacked by two sportsmen in a restaurant. Many local and international organizations accused the Azerbaijani government of a foul play suspecting that the bloggers were actually imprisoned due to their activism against the authoritarian and corrupt rule in Azerbaijan.

BAKU. August 18, 2010: The political situation in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) of Azerbaijan remains difficult on the eve of elections, and is characterized by the suppression of political freedoms in that area.  Malahat Nasibova, the head of NGO and Democracy Development Resource Center in Nakhchivan, compared the atmosphere in Nakhchivan with the Stalin rule in the Soviet Union.

Nakhchivan has always been famous for its truth-loving people, and now they are forcibly thrown into the hospitals for the mentally ill, Nasibova said.

BAKU. August 16, 2010: The Office of Attorney General has refuted the news reports in local and foreign media about the illegal organ transplant business in Azerbaijan.   The local and Ukrainian media reported that organ donors from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Russia sold their kidneys to transplant them to the clients in Israel. These operations have been performed in Ecuador and Azerbaijan.

BAKU. August 15, 2010: On Friday August 13, a single -storey house was destroyed in an explosion . The destroyed house was located at the corner of Rasul Rza and Fizuli streets of Baku, in an area currently being cleared to create a winter park. Click here for photos The local residents in the neighborhood accuse the Mayoral Administration of Baku, which they think plotted against them to evict them from that area. The Mayoral Administration has been trying to evict the residents of that area for a long time. The officials of the Baku Mayor's Office have denied that the city authorities had anything to do with an explosion in a house in the city centre.

BAKU. August 12, 2010: Azerbaijani youth faces serious problems with getting education, job, and getting involved in public and political activities, said the participants of the roundtable discussion of the youth organizations of opposition parties.  The discussions were held at the Human Rights House in Baku. The meeting was dedicated to the International Youth Day. Abulfaz Gurbanli, the chairman of the Youth Organization of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) said the youth experienced considerable hardship.  Abulfaz Gurbanli spoke about the persecution of the dissident students and their relatives for political motives, arrests of those who did not agree with the policy of authorities, including the arrest of bloggers and journalists.

BAKU. August 9, 2010: The Mayoral Administration of Baku refused to authorize a rally of unregistered non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  These organizations plan to stage a protest against the arbitrariness of the Justice Ministry in granting or refusing registrations to NGOs.  . A group of NGO representatives sent an appeal to the Mayoral Administration on August 4. The organizers of the protest action planned to hold a rally in the square near the Justice Ministry.

BAKU. August 6, 2010: A group of organ procurers for the organ black market have been arrested in Kiev, Ukraine.  The organ procurers appeared to operate through a wide network of doctors, businessmen and the law enforcement operatives.  There victims were mainly the citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Central Asian republics. The victims were transported to the foreign clinics to serve as donors of internal organs for rich clients. The arrested leadership of this criminal ring includes four Ukrainian surgeons and an Israeli citizen.