News

According to Minority Magazine reporting, a new movement calling itself “Pure Blood” is mobilizing via the Telegram channel to target members of the LTBTQI community in Azerbaijan. The magazine, sharing screenshots from the channel called on the relevant government institutions in Azerbaijan to investigate.  “Hurray, they should be burned,” wrote one user in the chat. […]

A page on Facebook took it upon itself to target yet another woman in Azerbaijan. This time, the target is the daughter of politician Jamil Hasanli, Gunel Hasanli. Not only that, but the page also is advertising a telegram channel, where they claim an intimate video of Ms. Hasanli is available.  Another page, previously engaged […]

[Update June 15] On June 12, French police arrested two men suspected of being sent to France to kill Mirzali. According to RSF, the two men – one Azerbaijani and the second Moldovan of Turkish origin – “were driving Polish-registered cars, and both had Mirzali’s address.”  Mirzali tweeted about the arrest too: Two men, on different […]

[Update] On March 31, Shahin Haciyev was sentenced to six years on bogus drug possession charges. Haciyev was arrested in November of last year. Speaking in court, Haciyev’s lawyer said the charges were unsubstantiated and that he will be appealing the court’s decision, according to reporting by Meydan TV. The opposition Popular Front Party condemned […]

What does art, shopping retail, web design, sports, cosmetics, and e-commerce website have in common? Absolutely nothing, except these, are all various categories available on Facebook when setting up pages. Since 2019, Facebook removed the limit on the number of pages a user can set up. Unfortunately, Facebook did not take into account, how this […]

On March 14, citizen journalist Mehman Huseynov and member of NIDA civic movement Ulvi Hasanli were detained by the police. Speaking to Turan News Agency, Mehman Huseynov said, police stopped both men while on an assignment, in Novkhani village, investigating Saleh Mammadov, a government official who is the Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan […]

On March 1, Access Now released the #KeepItOn report that documents incidents of internet shutdowns globally for the year 2020.  According to the findings of the report: there were 155 Internet shutdowns documented across 29 countries; there were 28 complete internet blackouts;  out of the 155 internet shutdowns, six incidents were bandwidth throttling; there were […]

[Updated] The targeting of women on telegram channels continues. On March 15, AIW was informed that the new target is the girlfriend of student activist Rustam Ismayilbeyli. Ismayilbeyli was targeted in September 2020 when a fake profile that belonged to the state security services informed Ismayilbeyli that personal information including intimate photos of Ismayilbeyli and his […]

The tale of corruption in Azerbaijan is no news to anyone familiar with the country’s history of money laundering, slush funds, and other fraudulent misconduct. From countless investigations, such as Caviar Diplomacy, Azerbaijani Laundromat and Panama Papers, and most recently OCCRP report about massive weapons deal with Congo-Brazzaville, the extent of involvement of key leadership […]

Phishing and spear-phishing attacks targeting activists, rights defenders, journalists in Azerbaijan is a common occurrence. AIW has documented several of these attacks in recent years. Previously, these cases were investigated and reported by international organizations. The most recent victim of a spear-phishing attack in Azerbaijan was Ruhid Karimli, a political activist, and member of an […]