Amnesty International activists raise cards with the number zero to indicate the Eurovision phrase ‘null point’ at a gathering in Neu-Ulm, southern Germany.

AFP/Baku
Azerbaijan prepared yesterday a spectacular show for a Eurovision Song Contest final pitting pensioners against young stars which it hopes will dispel concerns over the country’s poor rights record.
Eurovision is the biggest event ever hosted by energy-rich Azerbaijan as it seeks to present a glitzy front to the world despite the intolerance of dissent and opposition under the rule of the Aliyev dynasty.
The final of the song contest, featuring entries from 26 countries, will air live from the Crystal Hall on the city’s Caspian Sea bay from midnight (1900 GMT) to an audience of some 100mn television viewers.
Going into the final, the favourite to win is Sweden’s entry, Loreen, a 28-year-old singer who performs an upbeat number called Euphoria with high-kicking dance moves and a fake snowstorm.
Also highly rated are Russia’s Buranovskiye Babushki, a choir of elderly women from a single village who perform a song set to a disco beat called Party for Everybody, with most of the lyrics in their native Udmurt language.
Equalling the eldest of the babushki at the age of 76 is Britain’s entry, veteran crooner Englebert Humperdinck, with a ballad called Love Will Set You Free.
The excitement was building in the capital where electronic billboards were counting down the hours to the final, and video screens on the streets aired backstage footage.
But the festive atmosphere was clouded by the arrest on Friday of dozens of opposition activists who tried to hold a peaceful demonstration calling for fair elections and freedom of assembly in the tightly-controlled state.
The Public Chamber opposition alliance said that more than 60 protesters were detained in the latest of a series of protests in the run-up to Eurovision over political prisoners and the lack of civil freedoms and democracy.
A court sentenced three protesters to jail terms of five or six days, while 16 were ordered to pay fines or given warnings, and the rest were released, the alliance said.
Police beat four activists after their detentions, with one man suffering head injuries that required police to call an ambulance, the Public Chamber said.
Human Rights Watch yesterday called for Azerbaijan to respect freedom of assembly, saying it was crushing peaceful protest.
“The authorities should immediately release people picked up at peaceful protests and stop detaining people arbitrarily for legitimate speech,” researcher Giorgi Gogia said in a statement.
Azerbaijan is run by strongman President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his late father Heidar Aliyev in 2003.
The president is closely involved in hosting Eurovision and is set to attend the final, with police warning that access to the event will close three hours before the start for his motorcade.
His wife Mehriban Aliyeva heads the organising committee and his son-in-law, Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based businessman who sings as a hobby, will perform in the interval of the final.
Radio Liberty reported this month that a construction company in the project to build the Crystal Hall venue in a city-commissioned project had links to the Aliyev family.
The event is also far beyond the reach of ordinary Azerbaijanis, with tickets for the final starting at 160 manat ($204), about half an average monthly salary.
Rights activists have met Loreen of Sweden, but she declined to comment on her views on human rights at a news conference on Thursday.
The state broadcaster apparently deliberately translated a journalist’s question incorrectly, saying that she asked Loreen how she felt on stage, local opposition media reported.
One of the activists to meet Loreen, Rasul Jafarov who is co-ordinating a Sing for Democracy campaign during Eurovision, told AFP that he felt she had been intimidated but still hoped she would speak out.
“I think she was under pressure – pressure from our government and from the European Broadcasting Union,” he said, referring to Eurovision’s organiser.