News

On September 8, seven Azerbaijani dissidents who now live in various cities across Europe were targeted by the government of Azerbaijan. In addition to being formally charged with a crime in their absence and arrest warrants issued, the authorities have vowed to ask Interpol for their extradition. The story goes back to last year when […]

Rustam Ismayilbeyli is an 18-year-old activist from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier this summer for staging a protest outside the Ministry of Education. Together with a group of students, he was demanding that the Ministry cancels tuition fees and exams for the academic semester as a result of Covid19. After three of the organizers including […]

Writer Keramet Boyukchol was briefly taken to the police for questioning after an alleged complaint to the police made by his neighbors. Police claimed neighbors complained he was making too much noise.  Boyukchol is known for his criticism of the authorities on social media and in the numerous interviews, he has done with the media.  […]

[Update] On March 5, the Court in Baku sentenced Ibrahim to one year and three months.  [Update] On February 17, during his hearing, Nijat Ibrahim, once again refuted the claims that he was intentionally spreading the coronavirus when he was arrested in July 2020. “When police arrested me, I was wearing a mask and gloves. […]

Several activists and journalists had their Facebook accounts compromised in recent weeks in Azerbaijan.  At the end of June, a veteran human rights lawyer, Intigam Aliyev, reported a break-in attempt into his Facebook profile. A few days later, an opposition group D18 reported their Facebook page was compromised. On July 2, journalist Aysel Umudova and […]

On July 13, Azerbaijan arrested, former Minister of Defense, Rahim Gaziyev on the grounds of incitement against the state and provocation online. “[…]former Defense Minister Rahim Gaziyev purposefully spread inappropriate news about the events on social media and reasonable suspicions have been found that these acts aimed at weakening its defense capabilities of the Republic […]

[Update] On June 13, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, “that Azerbaijan violated an article of the Human Rights Convention that enshrines freedom of speech by shutting down several news outlets between 2017 and 2018.” The complete text of the ruling is available here.  *** In July of last year, in their response […]

In July, authorities in Azerbaijan released it’s very own COVID tracing tracker application. Launched by Tebib (Azerbaijan Administration of Regional Medical Division) the app was quick to draw attention, especially over its privacy issues.  e-Tebib is just one of the deluge of apps that have been unveiled in recent months by various governments, promising to […]

July 6, Gachay Gafarov, member of the opposition party Popular Front, sentenced to 15 days in administrative detention according to Azadliq Radio. Gafarov is accused of disobeying police. According to party headquarters, Gafarov was detained over his social media post critical of the police that Gafarov posted on the day of the police.  July 5, […]

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 […]