Jerusalem asks Belarus not to deport blogger to Azerbaijan
The Foreign Ministry has asked Belarus not to deport an Israeli blogger to Azerbaijan after he was arrested, ostensibly for traveling into an area of the caucuses without Baku’s permission.
Alexander Lapshin has been held by Minsk since last week. According to reports in Israel, Lapshin published Russian-language blogs critical of Azerbaijani president Ilham Alyev.
However, according to Panarmenian.net, he was stopped for visiting the restive Nagorno Karabakh region on the Armenian border without coordinating with authorities in Baku.
The arrest came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Azerbaijan, a first for an Israeli head of government.
— With Raphael Ahren