News

Canada-based blogger Imran Asadov was reportedly detained after arriving in Azerbaijan. Asadov, who owns a YouTube channel, openly targeted activists who were against the Karabakh war, which took place in 2020 during the 44-day war.  During questioning, and likely under duress, all of the videos on Asadov’s YouTube channel were removed. Wayback machine shows that […]

[Update February 24] The pre-trial detention period of Abzas Media journalist Nargiz Abusalamova was extended by another three months.  [Update February 21] Kanal 13 director Aziz Orujov’s pre-trial detention was extended by another month. [Update January 13] Police arrested another Abzas Media journalist – Elnara Gasimova. She was sentenced to pretrial detention on January 15, 2024, […]

Afiaddin Mammadov, the coordinator of Azerbaijan’s Alternative Confederation of Trade Unions, was sentenced to two months in pretrial detention in September 2023. Charged with deliberate infliction of bodily harm and armed hooliganism (based on a bogus accusation by an unidentified man claiming Mammadov stabbed him with a knife) originally, based on the hearing on November […]

[Update] Reports from Fuzuli confirm, that internet access has been restored as of October 24, 2023. Residents say that despite almost a month-long throttling, they have noticed the cash balance on their accounts has been withdrawn even though there was no internet access. Of the companies providing Internet access in Fuzuli, only Aztelekom has thus […]

[Update] Dia.az website was reportedly blocked inside the country following the court decision on November 15. The Media Development Agency filed the case with the court on November 10 [see the following update below]. The site’s manager considers the court’s decision unlawful. Zamanov told Meydan TV he will be appealing the decision. In an interview […]

[Update] On January 17, Ruslan Vahabov [see the case below] was sentenced to 4 years behind bars on drug possession charges.  [Update] Authorities continued to target civic activists critical of the state during October. Below is a compilation of some the cases documented by AIW.  October 27 – Tural Farzili was detained after a post […]

[Update] Access to TikTok was restored as of October 31, according to reports. The access was restored together with a call from the Cyber Security Service asking users to comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the rules and conditions set by social network administrators when sharing on social […]

On September 13, the court in Baku ruled in favor of blocking access to the YouTube channel of an online news site “Hürriyyət” [Hurriyyet]. The decision was based on the request from the General Prosecutor’s Office.  The court in its ruling said the news site violated the law on Information, informatization, and protection of information, […]

[Update] Mammadli may face a possible eight-year sentence, according to the hearing, which took place on February 29. During the hearing, lawyer Fariz Namazli said his defendant is being charged with the crimes without evidence proving Mammadli indeed committed fraud, hooliganism, and extortion.  August 24, 2023 – Blogger Jamil Mammadli is facing multiple charges, including […]

A confession from journalist Elmaddin Shamilzadeh about the forced removal of social media posts under duress is a testament to persistent violence and intimidation used in Azerbaijan against civic groups. According to the reporting by Voice of America, Shamilzadeh was severely beaten by law enforcement during his detention last month. After the journalist agreed to […]