American journalist Amanda Erickson and British activist Celia Davies Carys were followed home and beaten by four men on 15 June in Baku. The women are in Baku to train local journalists. Carys sustained a broken arm in the attack.
Government officials in Azerbaijan have admitted that the President Ilham Aliyev had a hand in censoring the country’s entries to the Venice Biennale festival. The artwork of Aidan Salakhova included a replica of the Black Stone, a sacred Muslim...
After four years of wrongful imprisonment, the Azerbaijani government has pardoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. Rebecca Vincent reports
Azerbaijan journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has been pardoned by the country’s president Ilham Aliyev, according to a report on the News.az website.
Fatullayev’s name featured on a list of prisoners to be released on the morning of Friday 27 May.
Fatullayev, who worked as a reporter on Elmar Huseynov’s magazine Monitor and later founded and edited Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaycan, served almost four years in prison.
Index on Censorship, English PEN, Article 19 and Amnesty led an international campaign for the 34-year-old editor’s release.
Natasha Schmidt, Assistant Editor of Index on Censorship said:
“We’re absolutely delighted that Eynulla will be freed. This comes more than a year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he should be released. Only last month Index lobbied European leaders to ensure that this judgement was enforced and that freedom of expression is upheld. It is of concern however that bloggers and Facebook activists are still in prison.”
An Azerbaijani court sentenced opposition activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev to two years' imprisonment yesterday, 18 May. Hajiyev used Facebook to generate support for the 11 March "Great People's Day" anti-government protests, but was sentenced on a...
Elnur Majidli, a Strasbourg-based blogger and internet activist has been threatened with a 12 year jail sentence for “inciting hatred”. Index on Censorship’s Mike Harris met Elnur at the Council of Europe as part of Index on Censorship and the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan’s lobbying efforts
Azerbaijani officials detained three Swedish TV journalists while they were preparing to cover an opposition demonstration in Baku on 17 April. The journalists were subsequently deported on 18 April. An official at the Interior Ministry commented...
Azerbaijani police arrested more than 200 opposition protesters during Saturday's demonstrations in Baku. They were calling for the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev and had broken through police cordons into Fountains Square. According to the...
Eminent opposition journalist Seymur Haziyev was abducted and beaten on Saturday night (26 March). He was attacked by six masked men and tortured for two hours. The contents of his laptop were scrutinised and his two telephones were taken from him....
Abbas Atilay, a journalist working for Radio Free Europe's Azerbaijani service, was reportedly attacked whilst covering Friday's protests in Baku. Demonstrators were demanding the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev and the release of journalists...
The government of Azerbaijan has curtailed the ability of its citizens to express dissent, expose corruption or press for respect of human rights.