Azerbaijani journalist receives Rafto Prize

On November 1, in the Norwegian city of Bergen, Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender Malakhat Nasibova was decorated with the prestigious Rafto International Award in the field of human rights for 2009.

Malakhat Nasibova is the regional correspondent of the "Turan" Information Agency and Radio Liberty in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic; she is also the head of the Nakhichevan-based Resource Centre for Promoting NGOs.

She was awarded the Prize for her long-term uncompromising struggle for the freedom of speech, for informing about facts of attacking and persecuting citizens and journalists by the police, and arrests of oppositionists in Nakhichevan.

See earlier reports: "Nasibova: journalists have to be human rights defenders in Nakhichevan", "Azerbaijani journalist rewarded by Norwegian human rights activists", ""Reporters without Borders" call Azerbaijani authorities to stop persecuting journalists in Nakhichevan".