BAKU - A top official in Azerbaijan on Friday defended a crackdown by authorities on political opposition movements ahead of a planned anti-government rally, as the oil-rich republic faced a barrage of western criticism.
"Those people who incite disturbances of the peace should know ... the state's interests are above those of political functionaries," Azeri Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov said at a meeting with journalists, referring to opposition figures.
Up to 40 opposition activists have been arrested in recent days for alleged minor infractions such as disturbing the peace and resisting arrest ahead of the anti-government rally planned for Saturday, according to Qabil Huseynli, deputy head of the opposition party Musavat (Equality).
Twelve of them were arrested and released with warnings not to attend the rally, "after being psychologically pressured," Huseynli said.
Meanwhile, Ehtiram Jalilov, 35, deputy head of Azerbaijan's National Democratic Party, became the second opposition activist to die in unexplained circumstances this year Musavat, said.
Jalilov was sipping tea with a colleague on Wednesday when he slumped dead at the table, according to Qabil Huseynli, deputy head of Musavat, one of the former Soviet republic's best known opposition parties.
In February, a 21-year-old Musavat activist died under similar circumstances.
Following the deaths, a coalition of three opposition parties to call for the creation of an international panel of medics to investigate the deaths on Friday.
The United States, the OSCE and Norway weighed in with criticism as the spat of arrests that the opposition alleges were orchestrated to derail the rally, continued.
"Unfortunately, the recent detention and arrest of over 30 members of the opposition cast doubt on the Azerbaijani government's commitment to implementing the president's decree," the US embassy said in a statement.
It was referring to a decree issued by President Ilham Aliyev last week calling on authorities nationwide to take whatever steps needed to ensure parliamentary elections next November were free and fair.
The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Azerbaijan as it plans to launch the long awaited Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, a US-backed international project the launch of which will be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other dignitaries.
Baku authorities refused to sanction the rally earlier in the week citing concerns that it fell too close to the day on which the government had planned the ceremony -- not a good enough reason according to one western diplomat.
"Prominent visitors will come to take part in the pipeline ceremony and at the same time people are in custody, that is the real embarrassment," Norway's ambassador to Baku Steiner Gil told AFP.
He called for the immediate release of detainees and joined the US in its calls for the restoration of the right to freely assemble in Azerbaijan.
"The Prosecutor General is turning it upside-down," Gil said in response to Garalov's comments, "the suspension of the fundamental right of assembly is a violation of the constitution."
Police officials in the oil-rich republic denied any of the opposition figures, including the leader of the Yokh youth movement modeled on those that helped topple regimes in Georgia and Ukraine, were arrested for political reasons.
"None were detained for their political views," police spokesman Ehsan Zahidov told AFP adding that only 15 people were being held in pretrial detention for "concrete" breaches of legislation.
Some of the detainees were released after being questioned by police, Zahidov said.
Musavat and other opposition groups vowed to go ahead with the rally whether it was authorized or not and top opposition leaders met late Thursday to coordinate their plans, said Ali Kerimli, head of the opposition National Front party.
05/20/2005 15:53 GMT