Two Azerbaijan opposition leaders get jail

A court in Azerbaijan on Monday sentenced two leading opponents of strongman President Ilham Aliyev to seven and five years in jail in a decision US officials slammed as "politically motivated". Opposition Republican Alternative (REAL) movement leader Ilgar Mammadov was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Tofig Yagublu, deputy chairman of the anti-government Musavat party, was handed a five-year term over allegations they incited anti-government riots last year, a REAL spokesperson told AFP.
The activists - described as "prisoners of conscience" by rights group Amnesty International - were arrested in February 2013 on charges of being behind protests that turned into violent clashes in the town of Ismayilli the previous month. Another eight defendants were also sentenced to jail terms ranging from two-and-a-half to seven years.