2015
International coalition marks anniversary of crackdown on rights in Azerbaijan
July 30, 2015 2:29 PM ET
A year after the Azerbaijani government launched an unprecedented crackdown on human rights including press freedom, the situation in the country continues to deteriorate, the Sports for Rights coalition said today. The coalition of international organizations, including CPJ, released a statement today to mark the anniversary of what is widely...
Erdoğan vs the press: Insult law used to silence president's critics
July 6, 2015 5:34 PM ET
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known for being intolerant of critics. During his third term as prime minister, Turkey was the leading jailer of journalists in the world with more than 60 behind bars at the height of the crackdown in 2012. Most of those have been released, but...
Baku 2015: Press freedom, Azerbaijan, and the European Games
June 11, 2015 12:01 AM ET
Tomorrow 50 countries are due to take part in the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku, but Azerbaijan's most prominent journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, will not be at the celebrations. The award-winning investigative reporter has been in jail since December on retaliatory charges over her writing on...
CPJ, HRW call on president of European Olympic Committees to engage with Azerbaijan on press freedom, human rights
May 1, 2015 8:53 AM ET
A delegation of representatives from CPJ and Human Rights Watch met yesterday with Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committees, at the Dublin headquarters of the Olympic Council of Ireland. The delegation discussed the dismal state of press freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan, the host of the first-ever...
International coalition calls on European Court to prioritize Azerbaijani press cases
April 21, 2015 1:53 PM ET
Azerbaijan, one of the 10 Most Censored Countries in the world, according to new research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, is to host the first-ever European Games this June. As Baku prepares to bask in the spotlight by hosting an international mega-event yet again, eight of the country's independent...