Podcast | Azerbaijan’s media crackdown continues

March 21, 2024 5:01 PM

In early March, Azerbaijani police raided the offices of Toplum TV and arrested several of their journalists on charges of smuggling. The targeting of the independent outlet was the latest in Azerbaijan’s ongoing crackdown on media in the country.

This week, we speak to Toplum TV journalist Alya Aghayeva about Azerbaijan’s crackdown on their outlet, and to Leyla Mustafayeva, who became the interim editor-in-chief of AbzasMedia in exile. AbzasMedia was the first outlet to be targeted by the authorities in November.

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Mahammad Kekalov, Nargiz Absalamova, and Farid Mehralizade.

AbzasMedia

Azerbaijan presses new charges against three detained in AbzasMedia case

Aytan Farhadova

••2 min read

Azerbaijani police have pressed new charges against two of AbzasMedia’s staff members and an economist detained during the crackdown on independent media. The chief investigator of the Baku City Police Department on Friday charged AbzasMedia’s deputy director Mahammad Kekalov, journalist Nargiz Absalamova, and unaffiliated economist Farid Mehralizade with illegal entrepreneurship, smuggling assets as part of an organised group, tax evasion, and falsifying documents. If found guilty under the

Economist Farid Mehralizade. Image via social media.

AbzasMedia

Azerbaijani economist ‘kidnapped’ and detained in AbzasMedia case

Aytan Farhadova

••2 min read

Azerbaijani economist Farid Mehralizade was detained as part of the government’s crackdown on AbzasMedia, despite not having any ties to the independent news outlet. Mehralizade was expected to testify in the AbzasMedia case on Saturday, but was reportedly abducted and detained two days earlier, on 30 May. His wife, Nargiz Mukhtarova, said that her husband disappeared in the early morning of 30 May, and was escorted to their home by the police around noon that day. ‘The police brought him

Imran Aliyev as he was getting arrested. Image via Jamnews.

AbzasMedia

Detained Azerbaijani journalist allegedly beaten by police

Aytan Farhadova

••1 min read

Journalist Imran Aliyev has allegedly been beaten and tortured by Azerbaijani police after being arrested on charges of smuggling as part of a group. Aliyev, the founder of meclis.info, was arrested on Thursday, and remanded to two months of pre-trial detention the following day. Speaking outside court on Friday, Aliyev stated that he had been beaten and tortured with electric shocks to force him to sign documents and confess to the charges. Aliyev added that he considers the accusation b

AbzasMedia

AbzasMedia to continue from exile despite imprisonment of management team

Ismi Aghayev

••2 min read

The embattled Azerbaijani news site AbzasMedia will continue to operate from exile, despite its entire management team and several journalists having been imprisoned by Azerbaijan’s authorities. On Thursday, Abzas named veteran Azerbaijani journalist Leyla Mustafayeva as editor-in-chief. The move is understood to have been approved by the site’s founders. ‘The government has depleted the resources of AbzasMedia by arresting its employees, and the resulting repressive environment makes it im