News

The director of the website “dunyaninsesi.az”, Arshad Ibrahimov, who has been in prison since December 2023 on extortion by threat charges, was sentenced to 8 years on January 24, 2025.  Ibrahimov refutes allegations leveled against him. During his defense, Ibrahimov said the charges were bogus and were linked to the website’s reports of police misconduct […]

In Azerbaijan’s administrative district of Imishli (İmişli), scores of residents were detained, internet speed throttled, and, according to reports by local media, all entry and exit points to the town were placed under heavy control by internal troops dispatched to the area. This followed a protest in reaction to an accident reported on January 18, in […]

Hamza Mammadli, 33, was sentenced to six years on January 7, 2025, on spurious terrorism and calls against the state charges, the charges Mammadli denies. Mammadli, a German citizen of Azerbaijani origin, received asylum in Germany in 2015 and German citizenship in 2022. He traveled to Azerbaijan in 2023 for his wedding and was arrested at […]

In its official statement released on 6 December 2024, Meydan TV disclosed the sudden detention of seven collaborators—including staff reporters and freelancers. Homes were searched, personal belongings seized, and equipment confiscated. The detainees, charged with “smuggling foreign currency,” included Ramin Jabrayilzade (Deko), Aytaj Ahmadova (Tapdig), Aynur Ganbarova (Elgunesh), Natig Javadli, Khayala Aghayeva, Aysel Umudova, and Ulvi Tahirov. […]

When Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, was detained in France, the first thing I noticed was that he had arrived in France from Azerbaijan. Naturally, the first question that came to mind was what Durov was doing in Azerbaijan. Thanks to his assistant Julia Vavilova or Juli Maletc, as she is known on Instagram, that question […]

According to local media reports, the ministry of education adopted a series of amendments to the “Rules of ethical behavior of educators” document on May 15. According to the changes, educators (as in all teachers and academics employed within the institutions under the Ministry of Education) must adhere to the principles of lawfulness, honest behavior, […]

Famil Khalilov, 34, is Azerbaijani civic activist who was arrested on May 2, 2024. Khalilov was extradited from Sweden in 2023 and since then, lived in Azerbaijan together with his wife and three children. The activist suffers from cerebral palsy and is officially classified with a first degree disability. Authorities however accuse the activist of […]

On March 6, police stormed the office of Toplum TV, an online news platform in Baku. While the office was searched, the police questioned some fifteen staff members. Among those detained were interns and the tech team. While nine were released after questioning, at least six other journalists were sent to pre-trial custody on bogus […]

[Update] On February 24, 2025, Baghirov was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a three-year ban on doing journalism.  According to local media reports, SalamNews and InterAz founder and editor Matlab Baghirov appeared in court on February 27, 2024. He has been in pretrial detention since January 31, 2023. According to pro-government media, Baghirov […]

Farid Suleymanov was arrested on January 8, 2024. He was sentenced to 30-day administrative detention. And although Suleymanov was scheduled for release on February 7 – the day of snap presidential elections – he was instead taken back to BandOtdel – the department for combating organized crime at the Ministry of the Interior.  Suleymanov is […]