arrest – Azerbaijan Internet Watch

Social Media Arrests and Platform Disruption: October 2026

Posted on October 17, 2026 by aiw_admin

In October 2026, at least four individuals were administratively detained specifically for social media posts about Azerbaijan’s school hijab regulations, and two major platforms — Instagram and TikTok — were disrupted for Azerbaijani users on the day of the largest protest. The cases illustrate the direct application of Azerbaijan’s January 2026 social media “immorality” legislation — and the existing provisions on “prohibited information” — to the documentation and criticism of a government policy affecting religious expression.

The Legal Framework

The detentions use two overlapping provisions:

Article 388-1.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses: Posting “information prohibited from dissemination on internet information resources” — carries a fine of 500–1,000 manats or up to one month of administrative detention.

The Law on Information, Informatization and Information Protection: Prohibits “insulting or defamatory” content online; cited in the WhatsApp/Erdoğan sentence (9 July 2026) and, per case reports, in some hijab-related detentions.

In none of the documented cases did courts specify which words or content triggered the charge. This aligns with the pattern identified by lawyer Fariz Namazlı in his commentary on the July 2026 internet-blocking legislation: without precise definitions, users cannot foresee what will be treated as a violation.

Documented Cases

1. Gudrat Abdullayev (Nakhchivan) — TikTok post about hijab ban
Detained 7 October 2026. Sentenced to 25 days of administrative detention. Charge: posting information prohibited from dissemination on internet resources (Article 388-1.1.1). The family was told the post concerned the hijab ban. The sentence did not identify the specific content. His mother was not provided with the court decision or informed of the legal basis. The family did not know his location after one brief call.

2. Mahammad Seyidov and Elvin Abbasov (Nakhchivan) — WhatsApp video about children denied school entry
Detained 13 October 2026. Both men filmed a video of their children being refused entry to school for wearing hijab and distributed the video via WhatsApp. They were detained after the video circulated. No official statement, no article cited, and no confirmation of whether administrative or criminal charges were filed.

3. Two brothers, Sherur district, Nakhchivan — detained after WhatsApp protest
Seymur Mammadov and Samur Məmmədov were detained after protesting at school about their children’s exclusion; family members indicated the video was shared on WhatsApp. Each was given 25 days of administrative detention. No legal basis communicated.

4. İlkin Huseynov (Baku) — first reported missing, then sent to administrative detention for a month; linked to “Let Leyla Go to School” Instagram initiative
Unidentified individuals took him from his home on approximately 14 October 2026. Connected to the “qoy_mektebe_getsin” Instagram page, which helped hijab-wearing students access tutoring after being excluded from school. His Facebook account was reportedly accessed by a third party shortly after his disappearance. According to news reports, the initiative’s social media accounts were also inaccessible.

Platform Disruption — 12 October 2026

On the morning of 12 October 2026—the same day the Ministry of Interior announced 37 arrests and the same evening that over 200 people were reported detained near “28 May” metro station—Azerbaijani users reported that Instagram and TikTok became inaccessible without a VPN. Monitoring services recorded large volumes of Azerbaijani complaints for both platforms without recording a global outage. Access was restored via VPN. No official explanation was provided. Neither Meta nor TikTok issued a statement. The disruption coincided with the mass circulation of protest-related videos on both platforms.

Pattern Note

The October 2026 cases follow the documented pattern: the WhatsApp status/Erdoğan case (9 July 2026, 15 days for a critical post about the Turkish president); the TikToker “Çevik” arrest (September 2026, criminal charge for religious commentary); the January 2026 Movsum Mammadov case (30 days for Facebook posts criticizing local authorities). The October hijab cases add a new dimension: social media documentation of a specific government policy — the exclusion of children from school — is being treated as prohibited information. In two of the cases, the content was shared on WhatsApp rather than a public platform, extending the reach of the “prohibited information” provisions into private messaging.

Blogger Arrested Under Newly Amended Information Law [updated Feb 23]

Posted on February 2, 2026February 25, 2026 by aiw_admin

On February 2, TikTok blogger Salman Mammadov — known online as “Velizar” — was administratively detained on charges of disseminating prohibited content. Mammadov had attracted widespread public attention through live fundraising streams.

The arrest followed amendments to the Law on Information, Informatization and Protection of Information, signed by President Ilham Aliyev. The amendments ban the mass dissemination of content deemed to insult public morality or show explicit disrespect for society in a manner contrary to national moral values.

Six People Fined or Jailed for Social Media Posts

The same legal framework has produced its first documented wave of enforcement actions. According to a formal statement by the Prosecutor General’s Office, six people have already been penalised for social media posts under the new provisions: four received administrative detention, and two were fined.

The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that those individuals had posted content “insulting public morality, displaying open disrespect and content contrary to ethics” on social networks. Authorities issued a public warning that “the digital space is not a lawless or uncontrolled zone,” and threatened continued enforcement against anyone publishing content that targets national moral values.

The relevant article carries penalties of between 500 and 1,000 manat or up to 30 days’ administrative detention for a first offence. Repeat offenders face fines of 1,000–2,000 manat or detention of one to two months.

Former Investigator Arrested for Facebook Post Contradicting President

On February 23, Mushfig Abbasov — a former investigator at the Baku City Chief Prosecutor’s Office — was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention by the Yasamal District Court following a request from the prosecution.

He was found in violation of Article 388-1.1.1 of the Administrative Offences Code, which prohibits posting content on information networks or telecommunications networks that is prohibited by law.

The post in question was a brief Facebook status update that directly contradicted a remark by President Ilham Aliyev at the Munich Security Conference. After Aliyev declared that “there are no independent media anywhere in the world,” Abbasov wrote: “There are no independent media in the world, but we have some.” That sentence was sufficient grounds for his detention. Abbasov had previously been imprisoned for bribery.

meclis.info website founders on trial

Posted on June 12, 2025 by aiw_admin

In April 2024, police arrested Imran Aliyev, one of the founders of the meclis.info website, at the Baku Haydar Aliyev International Airport. Aliyev was accused of smuggling charges and sent into pretrial detention. Since then, additional charges have been leveled against him, including abuse of power, illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, and document forgery – all of which he denies. On June 10, 2025, Aliyev and the website’s second founder, Elgiz Gahraman, heard the full indictment in their case at a hearing in Baku.

According to the indictment, meclis.info’s website and social media accounts were not properly registered. As a result, Aliyev, Gahraman, and a third colleague, Tamella Musayeva, are accused of receiving undeclared foreign funding through meclis.info and engaging in smuggling. The indictment also claims all three forged documents while committing smuggling, purportedly in cahoots with Abzas Media journalists. If convicted, Aliyev, Gahraman, and Musayeva face a minimum of seven and up to twelve years in prison.

Elgiz Gahraman and Tamella Musayeva were placed under police supervision in February 2025, facing the exact charges as Aliyev. Gahraman has been under a travel ban since April 2024 due to an investigation related to the Abzas Media case.

Majlis.info was launched in 2023 and published analytical pieces about the activities of the Azerbaijani parliament and the often-controversial statements made by its members.

journalist and editor-in-chief arrested

Posted on February 6, 2025February 11, 2025 by aiw_admin

On February 5, 2025, Azerbaijani authorities detained independent journalist Shamshad Aghayev, editor-in-chief of the online media outlet arqument.az. His residence was searched, and personal belongings, including electronic devices, were confiscated. Aghayev has been charged with smuggling under Article 206.3.2 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, which pertains to smuggling committed by a group of persons in collusion. He has been placed in pretrial detention for two months and one day.

Aghayev’s lawyer, Shahla Humbatova, contends that there is no basis for his arrest, noting that he was already under a travel ban as a witness in a Toplum TV case. Aghayev denies the charges, asserting that his detention is linked to his journalistic activities.

On February 6, journalist Shahnaz Huseynova (Beylergizi) was arrested and placed in pretrial detention for three months and 15 days. The journalist affiliated with Toplum TV is facing multiple charges, including engaging workers in any form of employment without a legally binding employment contract, large-scale illegal entrepreneurship, legalization of property through criminal means by an organized group (money laundering); the same actions committed on a large scale; smuggling committed by an organized group; tax evasion committed by an organized group.

These arrests attest to Baku authorities’ continued relentless crackdown against remaining independent media and journalists in the country. Since November 2023, journalists from several online news platforms, including Abzas Media, Toplum TV, Kanal 13, Kanal 11, and Meydan TV have been targeted with arrests.

website editor sentenced to 8 years

Posted on January 24, 2025February 10, 2025 by aiw_admin

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 various districts across the country he has reported.

In his final statement, Ibrahimov claimed he had been under pressure from the Organized Crime Department for a long time due to his website’s reports on police misconduct. In 2014, he was arrested by the Organized Crime Department and convicted under the same criminal article. At the time, he was sentenced to 11 years. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years on appeal and then to 5 years by the Supreme Court. He was released early through a presidential pardon.

Ibrahimov also said that a year before his most recent arrest, he was detained, held for a day, and forced to delete critical articles about the police. Ibrahimov said that the head of the department, Abulfat Rzayev, warned him that if he continued publishing adverse reports about the police, he would be arrested—which eventually happened.

During the hearing, Ibrahimov’s lawyer, Zabil Gahramanov, argued that people who the website editor allegedly blackmailed said they had no complaints against Ibrahimov. During the testimony, they said the Organized Crime Department pressured them to file a complaint.

His lawyer announced that they would appeal the verdict.

another wave of arrests targets online news platform

Posted on March 7, 2024June 24, 2024 by aiw_admin

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 smuggling charges.

Shortly after detention, social media accounts belonging to Toplum TV were compromised.

As a result, all 3600 videos on Toplum TV’s YouTube channel were deleted.

Previously Toplum TV’s Facebook page was hacked via SMS interception.

authorities arrest another blogger and block access to a public forum

Posted on February 22, 2024June 24, 2024 by aiw_admin

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 an activist, lawyer, and blogger from Azerbaijan. Active on a number of social platforms, Suleymanov ran a TikTok channel called “I saw it, I showed you.” Through his videos, Suleymanov raised awareness of the illegal activities of the traffic police, exposing their unlawfulness. For this, he has been questioned several times but let go. He also informs his audience via his social media channels of other challenges and issues in the country.

According to this video on Suleymanov’s YouTube channel, he was approached by a group of unknown men, who, without introducing themselves, shoved him into a white Mercedes and took him to BandOtdel.

Separately, Az-net Watch received an anonymous email from a reader informing the platform of the blocking of a Russian-language forum www.baku365.com. According to the information shared in the email, all three main mobile operators and local ISPs have blocked access to the website. On what grounds remains unclear. Earlier, Suleymanov’s daughter shared a post about her father’s unlawful arrest and detention.

blogger arrested [update March 3, 2025]

Posted on January 28, 2024June 12, 2025 by aiw_admin

[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 two days later that the blogger was arrested and sent into pre-trial detention.

Meydan TV reported that the blogger was sentenced to four months in pre-trial detention and charged with extortion.

editor of an online television channel disappears, then handed arrest [several other journalists detained][Updated May 15, 2025]

Posted on December 11, 2023June 12, 2025 by aiw_admin

[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 Affairs confirmed Karimov’s whereabouts in a statement, stating that Karimov had been detained and charged with extortion. The founder and director of Kanal11, Karimov, was sent to four months of pre-trial detention.

If convicted, Karimov will face five years behind bars or fifteen years with aggravated circumstances.

Karimov was among scores of journalists rounded up in November and December, ahead of the snap presidential election scheduled for February 7, 2024.

According to Kanal11, the real cause of Karimov’s arrest was his previous reporting on corruption in one of Azerbaijan’s regions.

Also on December 11, police arrested two more journalists, Ibrahim Humbatov of Azerinfo.az and Arshad Ibrahimov of Dunyaninsesi.az, on alleged extortion charges. Both journalists were sent into pre-trial detention pending trial.

Separately on December 13, authorities arrested investigative journalist Hafiz Babali and sent him into three-month pre-trial detention on smuggling charges.

The journalist was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation against Abzas Media.

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