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The Invisible Machine – a gas pipeline in the Caucasus and a handshake in No10
Blog post -
May 1, 2018
On the evening of Thursday 26th April 2018, it was warm and sunny in London. President Ilham Aliyev strode down Downing Street and was met by Prime Minister Theresa May with smile and a handshake. They posed for the cameras on the red carpet outside No 10 and then retired inside. A short formal chat...
Aliyev re-elected as President for another 7 years – the chain of oil autocracy that binds Azerbaijan
Blog post -
Apr 18, 2018
On 18th April Ilham Aliyev will be inaugurated for the fourth time as President of Azerbaijan. His re-election comes as no surprise. It is so predictable that it barely counted as ‘news’ and consequently got next to no coverage in the international media. Originally the election was scheduled for 17th October, but at nine weeks...
Bribes, bulldozers and BP: what makes a gas mega pipeline?
Blog post -
Sep 7, 2017
Earlier this week, the Guardian’s Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation uncovered thousands of covert payments totaling £2.2bn from Azerbaijan’s ruling elite to prominent Europeans through a network of opaque British companies. Today, Platform and other organisations had a letter published in the Guardian, filling in the blanks in the story. Azerbaijan is particularly keen to present a...
Walking the Line. New Interactive Documentary
Blog post -
Mar 8, 2016
In Italy, Azerbaijan and the UK people are fighting against the devastating impacts of import pipelines and wresting back control over their energy system. In this beautiful documentary we made with Global Motion, Re:common and Counter Balance we meet the people who live alongside the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline and are organising against this gargantuan piece...
Darkness Falling – 100 days in Azerbaijan
Blog post -
Oct 20, 2015
Today the appeal trial of Leyla and Arif Yunus continues in Azerbaijan. As it does James Marriott reflects on 100 days in Azerbaijan. For over 100 days I have been away from the hum of collective life in Platform, away from the buzz of e-mails and twitter, away from the news feed darting this way...
Smuggled letters in the museum
Blog post -
Sep 18, 2015
On Sunday 13 September, sixteen different groups took over BP-sponsored British Museum for a whole day of performances in resistance to oil sponsorship. This is a partial transcript of our performance that took place in the Museum’s room 56 (Mesopotamia collection). This is a performance by Platform London in solidarity with Azerbaijan’s political prisoners....
Azerbaijan journalist imprisoned for seven and a half years
Blog post -
Sep 4, 2015
Azerbaijan investigative journalist and Platform ally, Khadija Ismayil, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. The BP funded ALiyev regime have given Khadija this sentence in retribution for the stories she wrote. Khadija has been an outspoken critic of BP and the UK government for supporting the Azerbaijan regime. Khadijah’s sentencing follows the murder...
All That Glitters: Sport, BP and Repression in Azerbaijan
Publication -
Jun 11, 2015
All that Glitters was published to mark the Opening Ceremony of the 2015 European Games in Baku. The inaugural European Games Baku 2015 are about much more than medals. Held in Azerbaijan at the height of a systematic crackdown on human rights and democracy, the Games are the first of a series of international sporting...
UK human rights campaigner held overnight and deported from Baku in run-up to European Games
Press release -
Jun 10, 2015
Contact in London: Mika Minio-Paluello, 07733466038 / 02074033738 [email protected] Emma Hughes of Platform has been deported from Azerbaijan, where she was detained and held overnight in Baku airport. Emma had arrived in Baku at 3pm, but was taken off her plane by guards and questioned, then detained. During her detention she was told she...
UK human rights campaigner detained & red-listed in Baku Airport in run-up to European Games
Press release -
Jun 9, 2015
Emma has been deported. Up to date press release: http://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/emma-hughes-deported-azerbaijan-bp/ Emma Hughes of Platform, a member of the Sport for Rights coalition, has been detained in Baku airport on her way into Azerbaijan, by the BP-Aliyev regime. She has been told she is on a “red list”, had her passport taken from her and will...
The Management of Democracy – a report from the BP AGM 2015
Blog post -
May 5, 2015
The low hanger of the ExCeL building – the London Exhibition Centre – squats grey and devoid of windows on the northern quayside of the former Royal Victoria Dock which was closed and privatised in 1981. Despite having visited this hall for most of the BP Annual General Meetings of the past decade, the place...
Azerbaijani activists and journalists not free to collect Freedom of Expression Award
Blog post -
Mar 20, 2015
Guest blog from Index on Censorship Index on Censorship gave a special award at our 15th Freedom of Expression Awards – to a group of people in Azerbaijan not able to join us to collect it. Over the past eight months, Azerbaijani authorities, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, have been engaged in relentless...
