Azerbaijan / Europe & Central Asia

Calls for journalists to exercise a sense of responsibility are very often code for censorship. Yet unethical journalism can also imperil the press. By Jean-Paul Marthoz

As Azerbaijan prepared to assume the 2014 chairmanship of the Council of Europe—the largest European intergovernmental human rights and democracy organization—the authoritarian regime of President Ilham Aliyev shamelessly trampled on press freedom at home. The authorities continued to stifle critical voices, target free expression on the Web, and sentence reporters to lengthy prison terms. A…

For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world’s leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China. The number of journalists in prison globally decreased from a year earlier but remains close to historical highs. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

New York, December 9, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the 10-year jail sentence given today to Azerbaijani journalist Nijat Aliyev, and calls on authorities to release the journalist on appeal.

New York, September 30, 2013–An appellate court in Azerbaijan should reverse the conviction and five-year prison sentence handed on Friday to Hilal Mamedov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Talyshi Sado.

New York, September 19, 2013–Authorities in Azerbaijan must immediately release a journalist who was arrested on Tuesday on fabricated charges and ordered detained for two months, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The press in Azerbaijan must be allowed to freely cover the country’s next presidential vote, scheduled for October 9, if it is…

“We in Europe are also not perfect,” José Manuel Barroso said last week while hosting a joint press conference in Brussels with Azerbaijan’s head of state, Ilham Aliyev. The president of the European Commission, who is supposed to defend the EU’s democratic values, seemed to prove his own point by deciding not to openly question…

New York, June 17, 2013–Authorities in Azerbaijan should lift the travel ban imposed against journalist Mehman Huseynov and allow him to travel freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.