Incident reports

June 27, member of an opposition party Popular Front, Faig Rashidov was sentenced to ten days in administrative detention on charges of violating the Code of Administrative Offenses Article 388.1 (placing online or on information/communication networks information otherwise banned).   Rashidov was previously subject to pressure for his activism and political views. Popular Front members have […]

June 24, editor of an online news platform arqument.az Shamshad Agha reports that the platform’s Facebook page was hacked.  The damage was significant Agha told AIW. Around 11,000 page likes were deleted as well as some 12,000 followers. All of the platform’s posts until March were also removed.  The admins were able to restore access […]

On June 18, a popular online news platform, Meydan TV was targeted online. Its social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram were subject to a digital attack. According to Meydan TV, the platform lost two years of content on its Azerbaijani language Facebook page while on Instagram it lost at least two months of posts.  […]

Four months ago, the Plenum of the Supreme Court in Azerbaijan annulled previous court decisions issued by the Courts of Appeal and Cassation regarding five news websites that were blocked in 2017. On June 5, the Plenum sent the cases back to the Baku Court of Appeal for reconsideration. The five media platforms include Meydan […]

June 22, Baku Court of Appeals rejected the TikToker’s appeal for release. In his defense, Elshan Teymurov said the main reason for his arrest – the circulated video – was made in 2019 and that he already spent 15 days in administrative detention at the time. Teymurov also added that he removed the video after […]

Between May 13 through 17, four different video clips from private Zoom calls were leaked online. The videos were taken from calls that took place between senior members of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF), an alliance representing several opposition parties in Azerbaijan.  The members of the council called the leak a cybercrime committed […]

[Update] On June 17, Irshadov was reportedly detained over a social media post. According to Meydan TV, the blogger was detained for criticizing a new quarantine rule restricting the reopening of some mosques that was introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers. Irshadov was released after a preventative discussion, reported Meydan TV. May 18, activist Elvin Irshadov, […]

Turan, Azerbaijan’s independent news agency was subject to multiple DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks and was briefly blocked.  The incident took place between May 15 through 18. The Agency’s Director, Mehman Aliyev said the hosting provider for the news agency failed due to an overwhelming amount of incoming traffic. In an interview with AIW, […]

[UPDATE] September 4, in an interview with independent Turan News Agency, Ali Karimli confirmed that he remains cut off the internet. His cellular signal also stops functioning after 8 pm every day.  August 6, Baku Court of Appeal rejected to evaluate opposition party leader Ali Karimli and his wife, Samara Seyidova’s complaint against the Ministry of the […]

May 9, Azerbaijani politician, Gultekin Hajibeyli’s Instagram account hacked and taken down. Instead, a fake profile impersonating Hajibeyli was set up, with her private mobile phone number shared publicly in the profile description. Hajibeyli, was targeted online previously. Such attacks are common in Azerbaijan, where opposition politicians and independent activists are targeted online. Account “break-ins”, […]