Azerbaijan Archives - Page 5 of 39 - Committee to Protect Journalists

A cell phone takes photos of an August 2016 meeting in Baku between the presidents of Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev claims internet is 'free of censorship' in Azerbaijan, but authorities have blocked access to critical news websites. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool/AP)

Freedom of speech is guaranteed Aliyev says as Azerbaijan blocks news websites

April 9, 2018 3:59 PM EDT

President Ilham Aliyev claims that in Azerbaijan the internet is free and press freedom is guaranteed. But ahead of the April 11 snap elections, authorities have systematically silenced critical voices online through amending laws and blocking news websites, and hackers have attacked independent news outlets.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev arrives in Brussels in November 2017. Azerbaijan has continued to harass and censor its press ahead of snap elections scheduled for April 11. (AP/Olivier Matthys/File)

Azerbaijan goes to the polls amid muzzled media and blocked websites

April 6, 2018 12:02 PM EDT

When it comes to silencing critics, Azerbaijani authorities have been industrious and methodical. Ahead of snap presidential elections scheduled for April 11, potential opposition candidates have been either jailed or barred from running, and the political landscape has been cleansed of virtually all formal avenues of expressing dissent.

A journalist films before a presidential press conference in Kiev on February 28, 2018. A Kiev prosecutor is refusing to return the passport of Turan TV's correspondent Fikret Huseynli. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)

Prosecutor in Ukraine flouts court, refuses to return journalist’s passport

April 4, 2018 4:23 PM EDT

New York, April 4, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ukrainian prosecutors to return the passport of Fikret Huseynli, a Dutch national of Azerbaijani origin, and to respect a district court’s April 2 ruling that the journalist should not be extradited to Azerbaijan or have his movements restricted.

A girl, draped in Azerbaijan's national flag, walks with a boy on a street in downtown Baku, Azerbaijan on June 18, 2015. (Reuters/Stoyan Nenov)

Azerbaijani court sentences local journalist to six years in prison

January 12, 2018 1:54 PM EST

New York, January 12, 2018–A district court in Azerbaijan today convicted veteran investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli on charges of illegally crossing the border, resisting police arrest, and contraband, and sentenced him to six years in prison, media reported.

Former Gambia President Yahya Jammeh, pictured in November 2016, is among the suspected human rights abusers to be penalized under the U.S. Magnitsky Act. (Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon)

Mixed first year, but Global Magnitsky Act could be strong tool in fight for justice

January 12, 2018 12:08 PM EST

In December, the U.S. government announced the names of those it will penalize under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act.

Journalists and protesters hold placards outside an Istanbul court on October 31, 2017, calling for the release of jailed colleagues, including Turkish reporter Ahmet Şık. Turkey is the worst jailer of journalists in 2017. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression

December 13, 2017 12:00 AM EST

For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers–Turkey, China, and Egypt–into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Russia and former Soviet states emboldened by declining press freedom in US, Europe

October 4, 2017 3:30 PM EDT

Receding media freedom in established European democracies and in the United States has emboldened authoritarian governments in Russia and other former Soviet countries to crack down on independent voices at home. I am sharing this information today with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe-known as the Helsinki Commission-and the House Freedom of…

French journalists Elise Lucet, right, and Laurent Richard answer reporters' questions outside a courtroom in a Paris suburb on September 5. Azerbaijan's government brought criminal defamation charges against the two journalists for calling the country a "dictatorship." (AP/Francois Mori)

Journalists on trial in France after calling Azerbaijan a dictatorship

September 7, 2017 3:58 PM EDT

New York, September 7, 2017–The French justice ministry should dismiss criminal defamation charges the government of Azerbaijan brought against journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard, and allow the pair to continue their work without obstruction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The old city walls in downtown Baku. Azerbaijani authorities in the capital have detained the head of the Turan news agency. (AP/Sergey Ponomarev)

Azerbaijan detains head of Turan news agency

August 24, 2017 3:47 PM EDT

New York, August 24, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Azerbaijani authorities today to immediately release Mehman Aliyev, head of the country’s only independent news agency, Turan. Azerbaijan’s Tax Ministry today ordered Aliyev to be detained as part of an investigation launched against Turan last week into allegations of tax evasion, according to media…

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, shown here watching a parade before a Formula 1 race in Baku, June 25, 2017, has maintained strict control over the media over the course of his 14-year rule. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)

Azerbaijani news agency’s office raided

August 17, 2017 3:14 PM EDT

New York, August 17, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should stop harassing Turan, the country’s only independent news agency, and should allow it to work without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.