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BAKU — Rafiq Tagi, a prominent Azeri journalist whose publications criticized Iran's regime and Islam, has died in the capital of the ex-Soviet nation following a brutal assault.
Hospital official Adil Salahov said that the 61-year-old reporter died Wednesday, four days after he was stabbed six times by an unknown assailant.
Tagi claimed the attack was retaliation for his opinion piece published earlier this month that criticized the government of neighboring Iran.
The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan said Tuesday that the claims were "ungrounded."
In May 2007, Tagi was convicted and sentenced to prison for inciting hatred with an article criticizing Islam. Following international pressure, President Ilham Aliyev's government granted amnesty to the reporter later that year.
