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A British activist working for a leading human rights organization Platform London that has been strongly critical of the relationship between oil and gas giant BP and the Azerbaijan regime, Emma Hughes, has been barred from entering Azerbaijan. Her passport was taken from her after her plane landed at Baku airport from Rome and she was informed that she would be put on a plane back to Rome within 24 hours. She was told she was on a “red list” that barred her from entering Azerbaijan, The Guardian reports.

According to The Guardian, Emma Hughes’ detention is part of a widespread crackdown by the autocratic Azerbaijan regime, which has been accused of using the European Games to “blind” countries to its “appalling” human rights record. “Yet BP still work hand in hand with this regime,” Hughes said before her detention. Human rights activists within the country allege that sport is “being used to goldwash a corrupt regime and the oil company that serves it”. Arzu Geybulla, a journalist with Radio Free Europe, said that BP absolutely does not care about the human rights abuses in Azerbaijan.

According to Platform London, Hughes said she was being detained on the orders of the BP-Aliyev regime. She told RFE/RL she was surprised to have been prevented from entering Azerbaijan because the event’s organizers had granted her press accreditation and she had purchased tickets to the event.

“Emma’s detention at the Baku airport is outrageous. The Azerbaijani authorities have spent a fortune promoting the European Games, and have invited the world to take part in the spectacle. This shows once again that despite their attempts to promote a positive image abroad, there is a more sinister truth behind the glitz and glam. The ruling regime clearly has something to hide when it comes to human rights practices in the country,” declared Rebecca Vincent of Platform London campaign Sport for Rights.

Amnesty International says it has been forced to cancel a planned visit to Azerbaijan after being told by the government at the last minute that the mission should be postponed until after the European Games.

The visit, which was intended to launch a briefing – Azerbaijan: the Repression Games. The voices you won’t hear at the first European Games – was cancelled after communication was received late June 9 afternoon from the Azerbaijan Embassy in London stating that “Azerbaijan is not in a position to welcome the Amnesty mission to Baku at the present time.”

“The actions of the authorities have only highlighted their desperate attempts to create a criticism-free zone around the Games,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia.

Over the last year Azerbaijani journalists, human rights defenders, opposition members and pro-democracy youth activists have been harassed, arrested, jailed, attacked and tortured. There are at least 20 prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan, detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. Some of them have been charged with fraud, tax evasion, drugs possession and hooliganism. Many activists have fled the country, while those who remain are often too fearful to speak out against abuses committed by the authorities because of threats to themselves or their families. Independent media is now almost non-existent, while newspapers and television stations owned or controlled by the government are used to smear critics. This allows abuses by the authorities to go unchecked, Amnesty International stresses.

Related:

Media reports: Power and economy in Azerbaijan are completely dominated by one foreign company – BP 

Human Rights Watch representative expelled from Azerbaijan following 30-hour detention at airport