Azerbaijan

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the harassment by Azerbaijani officials of the family of Gulnara Akhundova, a regional expert with the Denmark-based press freedom group International Media Support (IMS). Akhundova's 67-year-old mother was interrogated on Wednesday by prosecutors in Baku who raided her apartment the same day, according to local press reports. Akhundova, who lives...

A court in Azerbaijan on Thursday last sentenced Khalid Garayev, a reporter for the embattled opposition newspaper Azadliq and the technical director of "Azerbaijani Hour," Azadliq's online TV programme, to almost a month in prison on charges of hooliganism and disobeying the police, according to news reports. The Binagadi District Court in Baku found Garayev guilty and sentenced him to 25 days...

Azerbaijani authorities should immediately lift the travel ban imposed on Khadija Ismayilova and cease all legal proceedings against her. Against the backdrop of the unprecedented crackdown on civil society, Khadija Ismayilova’s arrest on criminal defamation charges seems imminent and would confirm the authorities’ intent to silence all critical voices in the country. As part of the...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the criminal libel charges filed against Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning investigative journalist in Azerbaijan, and called on authorities to drop the charges immediately. Ismayilova is known for her investigations into government corruption in Azerbaijan, including ties between President Ilham Aliyev's family and some lucrative businesses...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has strongly condemned the savage beating of Ilgar Nasibov, an independent journalist and human rights defender based in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR)—a mountainous exclave of Azerbaijan where the practice of journalism is severely restricted. Unknown assailants left Nasibov—a freelancer for publications including the Azerbaijani news agency...

The brutal attack on journalist Ilgar Nasibov in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan is an outrage, and Azerbaijan’s authorities should ensure a prompt, effective, and impartial investigation, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights House Foundation, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, People in Need, Human Rights Watch, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, International Media...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today called on the Azerbaijani government to stop criminalising journalism following a new wave of criminal prosecutions against journalists, bloggers and human rights activists in the country. The call came after the government has sent eight journalists and eight bloggers to jail for their criticism against the government. They include blogger...

As Azerbaijan took up its chairmanship of the Council on Europe on Wednesday, WAN-IFRA raised concerns that this prominent position would be seen as tacit approval of the country’s appalling human rights and press freedom record. Following publication, Council of Europe spokesman Daniel Höltgen spoke to Douglas Grant to explain the organisation’s position. Faced with accusations that the...

Azerbaijan’s jailing of a prominent independent journalist after his summary forcible return from Turkey bears the hallmarks of a coordinated operation that violates international law. Turkey forcibly returned Rauf Mirgadirov to Azerbaijan without allowing him access to a lawyer or basic due process protections, in violation of its international legal obligations. Azerbaijan detained Mirgadirov...

A court in Baku has ordered journalist Rauf Mirkadyrov, Turkey correspondent for the independent Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo, to jail for three months pending trial on espionage charges after he was deported from Turkey, news reports said. News reports said the journalist and commentator Mirkadyrov had reported from Turkey for the past three years, and had often criticised both Turkish and Azeri...