Azerbaijan Footballer Arrested Over Journalist Rasim Aliyev's Murder

Azerbaijan on Tuesday arrested a footballer over the death of a journalist and rights activist who was severely beaten by attackers after criticising the player on Facebook.

Javid Huseynov, the captain of the Gabala club, and five others including his cousin were detained over the death of journalist Rasim Aliyev on Sunday.

Huseynov and his cousin were arrested on suspicion of covering up a crime, while the others were arrested over the beating. They will be jailed for three months during the ongoing investigation.

Aliyev, a 30-year-old video journalist who formerly worked for a media rights NGO, died in hospital after being beaten.

Aliyev had criticised Huseynov on Facebook for waving a Turkish flag after a match with Cypriot team Apollon Limassol on Thursday and for allegedly making an offensive gesture at a journalist.

Before his death, Aliyev said he received insulting comments to the post and was phoned by a man identifying himself as Huseynov's cousin as well as by the footballer himself.

Finally Huseynov's cousin had invited him for tea, Aliyev said.

"I went alone. There were five or six of them and they immediately threw themselves at me and started beating me up," he added.

An aide to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, said the case was being handled by the interior ministry and the prosecutor general and vowed there would be an "objective investigation."

Rights groups warned that Aliyev's death could be related to his work as a journalist and rights activist in the oil-rich former Soviet state.

"The administration of President Ilham Aliyev must stop the repression of journalists and human rights activists, which has nurtured the climate of impunity that made this attack possible," the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.

The rights group said the journalist had received threats in connection with his work and online posts about media freedom and human rights.

Amnesty International also urged an "impartial, independent" investigation.

Aliyev was a cameraman for an Azeri news site. He previously worked for a prominent media rights NGO, the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, which was forced to shut down in 2013.

The NGO's director, Emin Huseynov, flew out to Switzerland in June after sheltering for 10 months in the Swiss embassy in Baku.

Huseynov, a fierce critic of the human rights record of President Aliyev, had sought refuge in the mission after being hunted by prosecutors on charges of illegal entrepreneurship and tax evasion.

Rights groups accuse Aliyev's government of consistently using spurious charges to jail regime critics and of stepping up a campaign to stifle opposition since his election for a third term in 2013.