News

On July 31, Elmar Piriyev, an activist with the Tovuz district branch of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP), was placed under administrative detention for ten days. According to information the party provided to Meydan TV, the detention followed critical posts he made on social media. Piriyev had been out of contact since July 27. […]

On 10 July 2026, Azerbaijan’s parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Information, Informatization and Information Protection, significantly broadening the executive’s power to block internet resources without prior judicial authorization. What changed Before these amendments, extrajudicial (warrantless) blocking was restricted to genuine emergencies – defined as situations in which state or public interests were under […]

[Update August 2026] Parliament passed the amendments as Law No. 431-VIIQD on June 30, 2026, and on August 5, 2026, President Ilham Aliyev signed an implementing decree in Baku assigning enforcement powers, setting institutional deadlines, and bringing the accompanying sanctions in the Code of Administrative Offenses into effect. The package, first tabled in early June, […]

This entry draws on reporting by OC Media and Qəzetçi. Access to OC Media, an independent online news outlet covering the South Caucasus, has been blocked in Azerbaijan. The outlet reported that readers first alerted it in early June that the website could no longer be reached from inside the country, and that traffic from […]

On March 16, the Baku Serious Crimes Court held a hearing in the case of public activist and founder of Yoldash Media, Ahmad Mammadli. The state prosecutor had requested a 9-year prison sentence. Following deliberations, the court sentenced Mammadli to 6 years in prison. Mammadli was detained on May 6, 2025, and formally remanded in […]

Azerbaijan’s parliament is debating two draft laws that would establish the country’s first legal framework for AI-generated content. One bill would criminalise the creation of AI-generated sexually explicit content featuring real individuals without their consent, carrying a prison sentence of up to seven years. A second bill would require all AI-generated content to be clearly […]

Jeyhun Novruzov, head of the Sabail district branch of the Popular Front Party (AXCP), has been sentenced to 25 days of administrative detention. According to the party, he was found guilty under: Article 510 (petty hooliganism) Article 535.1 (failure to obey police orders) The AXCP states that Novruzov had criticized traffic police on Facebook four […]

The story was originally published on Meydan TV. This is a translated and edited version.  The Baku Court for Serious Crimes has sentenced Azerbaijani blogger Manaf Jalilzade — who lives abroad — to 8 years in prison. The verdict was delivered in absentia. Jalilzade, currently residing in Switzerland, was charged with “calls against the state” […]

The original article was published by Meydan TV. Below is a translated and edited version of the original. Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, has signed a decree to improve children’s safety on social media. The decree introduces age restrictions on children registering on social platforms and mandates the development and enforcement of rules governing the use […]

The original story was published by Meydan TV. This is a translated and edited version. President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree establishing the Digital Development Council, a new body tasked with overseeing digitalization, e-government, artificial intelligence, and innovation policy in Azerbaijan. The Council is mandated to coordinate state digital policy, supervise related programs and […]