News

[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 […]

[Update] On March 3, 2025, Sayadoglu was sentenced to seven years.  Arzu Sayadoglu, known as a blogger who often critiques the state officials and the government, was reportedly arrested on January 28, 2024. According to family and friends, the blogger first went missing after an interview with an opposition YouTube channel, AzadSoz. It was announced […]

In Azerbaijan’s southern region of Lenkoran, residents complained of power cuts. According to reporting by Meydan TV, heavy snowfall in the area since January 14 caused power cuts and disruptions to access to telecommunications across several villages and in the city itself. In one village, there was no internet for a week after the snowfall, […]

[Update] Karimov was sentenced to eight years on December 28, 2024. He was also banned from doing journalism for two years. On May 15, 2025, Karimov’s sentence was reduced by one year in an appeal court.  Kanal 11 editor Teymur Karimov reportedly went missing on December 11. However, the same day, the Ministry of Internal […]

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] On November 27, Kanal13 online television’s director Aziz Orucov was released from custody. Orucov’s sentence ended on November 27, and he was released from Penal Institution No. 16 under the Ministry of Justice. A court in Baku ruled to block access to the YouTube channel of Kanal13 on December 20, 2023. Kanal13’s director, Aziz Orucov, […]

[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 […]