Exhibition "Work of Human Rights Defenders in Azerbaijan" disrupted in Baku, organizers assert

In Baku, the exhibition dedicated to the activities of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan was closed half an hour after its opening, said Shakhla Ismail, the head of the NGO "Women's Society for Rational Development", which was one of the organizers.

The photo exhibition was organized within the framework of the joint project of the "Women's Society for Rational Development" with the Norwegian Fund "Human Rights House", as Ms Ismail told reporters today.

She said that the aim of the exhibition was to show the activities of civil society in defence of human rights and the challenges they face, as viewed with the eyes of photographers of local media.

Shakhla Ismail has explained that the exhibition opened on March 18 at 11:00 a.m., but half an hour later the female manager of the Centre came into the hall and said that the location for the exhibition had been provided "by mistake", and that what was shown in the photos "does not fit her understanding of human rights," and ordered to remove the photos.

According to Ismail, the exhibition was closed because of the pressure on the leadership of the Arts Centre "Khatai" by the authorities.

The managers of the Arts Centre refused to give their comments on the situation to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.