Sport for Rights

Azerbaijan’s National Security Agency detained Mirkadyrov when he arrived in Baku from Ankara, according to regional and international press reports. Mirkadyrov, who worked as the Turkey correspondent for the independent Azerbaijani daily newspaper Zerkalo for three years, had been deported from Turkey the day before at the request of Azerbaijani authorities, the reports said. Mirkadyrov…

Agents with the National Security Agency arrested Hashimli, the editor of the independent news website Moderator and a reporter for the independent newspaper Bizim Yol, outside the offices of the Moderator in Baku. The same day agents claimed to have found a pistol and several grenades after raiding his home without presenting a court order…

Baku police detained Mamedov, editor of Talyshi Sado (Voice of the Talysh), on June 21, 2012, on allegations that they had found about five grams of heroin in his pocket, the Azeri-language service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. After his arrest, Baku police declared they found an additional 30 grams of…

Police arrested Yaqublu, a columnist for the leading opposition daily Yeni Musavat, when he arrived in Ismayilli to interview residents about riots, according to news reports. On February 4, 2013, the Nasimi District Court in Baku ordered Yaqublu to be held in pretrial detention for two months on charges of organizing mass disorder and violently…

As of December 1, 2015 Analysis: China, Egypt imprison record numbers of journalists Blog: None jailed in Americas | Blog: Q&A with Vietnam’s Ta Phong Tan

New York, September 1, 2015–The Baku Court of Serious Crimes today convicted Khadija Ismayilova, one of Azerbaijan’s most prominent investigative reporters, of illegal business, tax evasion, abuse of power, and embezzlement, and sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison, according to local press reports. The court dropped the charge of incitement to…

Dear President Patrick Hickey: I am writing on behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent international press freedom organization, to call your attention to the dismal climate for press freedom in Azerbaijan, which is scheduled to host the first-ever European Games on June 12.

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 journalists, including award-winning investigative reporter…