Obama Called on Aliyev to Release Jailed Bloggers Adnan and Emin

US President Barak Obama met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in New York today to discuss issues of shared interest and ways to further strengthen relations between our two nations, reads a press release issued by the White House.

“In the context of President Obama’s speech at the UN yesterday, he expressed his hope that Azerbaijan as a young democracy would implement democratic reforms and increase protections for human rights, including by releasing two jailed bloggers,” according to the release dated Sept. 24.

Recall that two days ago, relatives of the two jailed Azerbaijani bloggers – Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli – had appealed to Obama to raise the issue with Aliyev during talks scheduled for Friday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Please remember these youth activists, punished solely for their aspirations to see their own country advance on the path of liberty and progress and join the community of free nations,” they wrote.

Hajizade, 27, was sentenced to two years in prison and Milli, 30, to two-and-a-half years.

The two bloggers were arrested in July 2009 shortly after satirising the government and what they saw as the country’s docile press by posting an Internet video that showed a donkey giving a press conference, AFP reports.

The authorities have insisted the charges were unrelated to the bloggers’ criticism of the government, but to a scuffle in a restaurant.

But the bloggers and rights groups say the arrests were politically motivated.

Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court last month rejected an appeal of their convictions.