Azerbaijani journalist sentenced to 30 days in prison
New York, May 24, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release freelance journalist Nijat Amiraslanov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in the northwestern Azerbaijani city of Gazakh yesterday sentenced the journalist to 30 days in prison on charges of resisting police.
TV cameraman wounded in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
Davit Atoyan, a cameraman for the independent Armenian television station Shant, was wounded in both legs on May 10, 2017 in Nagorno-Karabakh, when the Azerbaijani military opened fire on a vehicle he was in, according to media reports and his employer.
Azerbaijan government seeks order to permanently block news websites
New York, April 28, 2017–The Azerbaijani government should immediately stop trying to permanently block access to five independent media outlets’ websites and should instead lift a decree that has rendered them currently inaccessible, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in the capital Baku yesterday began hearing a government lawsuit that seeks…
Azerbaijani blogger sentenced to prison for alleging abuse
New York, March 3, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release blogger and press freedom advocate Mehman Huseynov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in Baku today sentenced Huseynov to two years in prison on defamation charges for alleging that police beat him, according to his lawyer and media reports. CPJ called on prosecutors…
Fox TV-Turkey taken off the air in Azerbaijan
Broadcasts of Turkish broadcaster Fox TV-Turkey ceased in Azerbaijan late the night of February 22, 2017, hours after a presenter mocked President Ilham Aliyev’s appointment of his wife as the country’s first vice-president, Azerbaijani and Turkish media reported.
Belarusian court rules to extradite blogger to Azerbaijan
New York, February 7, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus to extradite Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin to Azerbaijan to stand trial for traveling to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and for criticizing Azerbaijani policies.
Azerbaijani authorities tighten screws on independent media
When officials in Baku released several high-profile journalists, including investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, from prison in May last year, the international media rights community breathed a sigh of relief. But any optimism was short-lived, with authorities in recent months prosecuting journalists and bloggers, and passing restrictive online media laws.
Blogger jailed in Belarus faces extradition to Azerbaijan
New York, January 13, 2017–Belarussian authorities should unconditionally release Aleksandr Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger detained in the capital Minsk on an extradition request from Azerbaijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Turkey’s crackdown propels number of journalists in jail worldwide to record high
At least 81 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, all of them facing anti-state charges, in the wake of an unprecedented crackdown that has included the shuttering of more than 100 news outlets. The 259 journalists in jail worldwide is the highest number recorded since 1990. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser
Press freedom on OGP agenda as authoritarianism rises
There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…