News

Police in Baku detained a member of the opposition Popular Front party over social media posts according to reporting by Turan News Agency. Emin Akhundov was taken from his home on October 31 wrote Akhundov’s father on his Facebook. “Extraordinary things are happening in our country. Yesterday evening at around 19.30, two people from the […]

On October 6, the Baku Military court, sentenced reserve Colonel Elnur Mammadov to six months in prison. The court found Mammadov guilty of slander. Mammadov voiced criticism of the Ministry of Defense on social networks accusing it of cronyism and nepotism. The accusations were also leveled against the Ministry of Defense, Zakir Hasanov.  According to […]

This new OONI report provides an update based on the analysis of OONI measurements collected from Azerbaijan between May 2022 to September 2022. Access to the full report is available here.  Key findings  Blocked websites – measures show that at least 7 news media websites previously reported as blocked, remain inaccessible in the country. Among them […]

Seymur Aghayev, a student, said police unlawfully took him to a police station where he was held for some two hours on September 27. The men who first asked Aghayev to confirm his identity were ununiformed explained Aghayev following his release. When Aghayev asked the reason for this inquiry his questions remained unanswered. The men […]

[Update] Speaking to a group of journalists on October 20, activist Ahmed Mammadli said his arrest was ordered by the state and that he was now being sent against his will to complete the compulsory military service less he drops his advocacy around peaceful coexistence between the two nations. The authorities said they would guarantee […]

On September 22, Aziz Orujov, the director and founder of Kanal 13, an online television platform, was questioned by the Prosecutor’s General office, according to reporting by Meydan TV.   In an interview with Meydan TV, Orucov said, the Prosecutor’s Office claimed, Kanal 13 published video items damaging the reputation of the Azerbaijani Army, and casting […]

On September 16, Toplum TV, an online news platform had its Facebook page hacked. The hacker accessed the account by hacking one employee’s personal Facebook profile. As a result, the news platform lost 26k of its followers and two weeks’ worth of shared content.  In an interview with Meydan TV, the platform’s director, journalist Khadija […]

[Update] According to Turan News Agency reporting, the temporary ban on TikTok placed in September was removed. The decision was announced by the service for electronic safety at the Ministry of Digitial Development and Transport.  Users of the social media platform TikTok in Azerbaijan started reporting difficulties accessing the application as early as September 13. […]

Earlier this week, on 12th September 2022, fighting erupted between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops along their border. Over the next few days, community members in Azerbaijan reported that the TikTok app was blocked locally. We analyzed OONI network measurement data to investigate the block. We found that TikTok has been blocked in both Azerbaijan and Armenia over the last few days. In this […]

[Update] On February 26, Zeynalli was sentenced to nine years behind bars, while Shukurov received a four-year sentence.   [Update] On January 5, the Baku Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the December 29 court decision [see previous updates below]. According to the appellate court’s ruling, releasing Zeynalli under house arrest would interrupt the course of […]