Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / A Task Group on Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan, which consists of representatives of the government, MPs and law enforcement bodies, called upon journalists to write an appeal to the President of the country to pardon imprisoned journalists, Novella Jafaroglu, a member of the Task Group and head of the Women's Rights Centre named after Dilara Aliyeva, said.
"Government representatives stated that the appeal was developed by two detained journalists, the Azerbaijani Sanat newspaper's editor-in-chief, Samir Sadatoglu, and writer Rafig Tagi. The journalists noted that an appeal should be developed and submitted to the President to pardon the detained journalists.
According to Jafaroglu, the agenda of discussions included issues concerning political imprisoned, detained journalists and sick detainees. Human rights activists submitted a list with the names of 51 political prisoners. However, the Task Group and MPs did not agree to the presence of political prisoners in the country.
"The Task Group and MPs express a readiness to cooperate with human rights activists in order to resolve the problem," Jafaroglu said.
Representatives of the government reported during the meeting that the arrested journalist of the Nata bene newspaper, Faramaz Novruzoglu, would be operated on due to the deterioration of his health during the week.
"The President will issue a pardon act by the end of December," Jafaroglu said.