Azeri journalist dies from beating over Facebook football row

BAKU

An Azeri journalist died Sunday after being severely beaten by unidentified attackers following a dispute over his Facebook post about a football match, his sister told the Turan news agency.

Rasim Aliyev, a 30-year-old photo and video journalist for a number of online publications, died in hospital after being beaten by a group of men who contacted him over his Facebook post about a heated football match between teams from Cyprus and Azerbaijan.

Aliyev had criticised the behaviour of the Azeri team Gabala’s striker Javid Huseynov who waved a Turkish flag after an August 6 match with Cypriot team Apollon Limassol and allegedly made an offensive gesture at a journalist.