Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/195525
7 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2013 ratic and transparent' – Anglu a's verdict on Azeri sham elections pean Parliament choosing to go to Baku as an unofficial observer of Azerbaijan's sham presidential election last week." Ilham Aliyev became president in 2003 after the death of his father, Heydar – who has been in power since 1993. According to the New Internationalist, Aliyev's rule was entrenched by the signing of what was dubbed 'the contract of the century' in 1994. This brought 11 corporations, including BP as the operating company, into a consortium to extract oil from the Caspian Sea. This gave the Aliyev family vast wealth and important international allies, and freed them from reliance on citizens' taxes. This time around, the election was contested by 10 presidential hopefuls; but most of the candidates were pro-government stooges who used their allotted campaign time to talk in favour of the autocrat. There was only one serious opposition candidate: Camil Hasanli. This professor of history was the replacement choice of the National Council of Democratic Forces after their original candidate, the filmmaker Speaker Anglu Farrugia meeting with his Azeri counterpart, Ogtay Asadov observers, where journalists from government-controlled news outlets jumped up and fiercely denounced the negative findings, loudly applauded one another, shouted down the official speakers and largely prevented other questions from being asked. The European Greens have described the report prepared by the European Parliament's election observation as a "sham". "The report failed to acknowledge the stifling environment of these elections, which included well-documented human rights violations, harassment of the political opposition and restriction of fundamental democratic principles," the Greens said. In a strongly worded editorial, the European Voice described a group of MEPs monitoring these elections as an embarrassment to the European Parliament. "Crass stupidity or petty venality seem to be the only plausible explanations for a member of the Euro- INCLUSION ACCESSIBILITY PARTICIPATION Disabled or not disabled all of us can contribute to society. The secret of success in life starts with all of us TOGETHER This advert is being supported by the Employment and Social Solidarity Programme - PROGRESS (2007-2013) of the European Union. For more information: http//ec.europa.eu/progress Rustam Ibragimbekov, was disqualified on the grounds of his dual Russian citizenship. Amnesty International reported that "harassment, intimidation, illtreatment, arbitrary arrests, fabricated charges and unfair trials" were all part of the arsenal the Azerbaijani authorities used in a "downward spiral of oppression" in the run up to the 9 October presidential elections. "With new arrests of civil society activists reported almost daily, it's hard to keep up with the sheer number and the speed at which dissenters are being persecuted at the moment," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Director. "The persecution is so widespread and frequent it's difficult to assess just how bad the current situation really is." Amnesty reports that 14 people were being held as prisoners of conscience. "These people are currently behind bars solely for expressing their views or taking peaceful action." jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt