Azerbaijani authorities have blocked access to OC Media, an independent regional news website, in the latest restriction of non-state media in the country. Readers across Azerbaijan reported being unable to access the Tbilisi-based English-language platform without a Virtual Private Network (VPN)...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, amid calls from jailed journalists to address the country's human rights record. The one-on-one meeting took place on 1 July following Mrs von der Leyen's arrival...

A defence lawyer in the trial of independent Azerbaijani journalists and activists linked to Toplum TV has said it would be "highly naive" to expect a fair verdict from the court. Fuad Agayev, representing prominent opposition figure Akif Gurbanov, made the...

Azerbaijani democracy activist Ramil Babayev has spent his 29th birthday in custody, more than two years after his arrest in a controversial crackdown on independent media. Babayev, an employee of the Baku-based Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI), was detained on 6...

A global press freedom watchdog has warned that a proposed law to establish a media super-regulator in Azerbaijan will tighten state control over the country's remaining independent digital spaces. The bill, which is expected to be debated in parliament on 30...

Azerbaijan’s parliament is preparing to vote on amendments that would allow authorities to temporarily block websites without a court order, raising fears of increased self-censorship among independent media. Under the proposed changes to the country's information law, executive bodies will be...

Azerbaijan has been ranked as having the second-highest prison population rate in Europe, amid growing concerns over systemic corruption, torture, and a failure to rehabilitate inmates, according to a Council of Europe report. The Council of Europe (CoE) annual "Space I"...

Jailed Azerbaijani journalist Aytaj Ahmadova, detained under the controversial Meydan TV smuggling case, has had her telephone contact with friends cut off by prison authorities, her family has said. Ms Ahmadova's family told the independent media outlet Meydan TV that her...

A Baku court has postponed the trial of 10 independent journalists and activists associated with the Toplum TV media outlet after the defence protested that they were denied access to the prosecution's closing arguments. The hearing at the Baku Grave Crimes...

The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has urged the UN Human Rights Council to prosecute foreign hit squads locally, warning of a "deeply concerning" global surge in state-sponsored assassinations of exiled dissidents. The IRFS made the appeal during a...