Journalists affiliated with Meydan TV, currently held in custody, have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with their colleagues from AbzasMedia, who recently received lengthy prison sentences. This act of protest underscores the escalating crackdown on independent media in Azerbaijan, where numerous journalists and civil society activists face charges widely condemned by international human rights organizations as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hunger strike began on July 4, 2025, with Meydan TV’s Aynur Elgunesh<\/strong>, Aytaj Tapdiq<\/strong>, Khayala Aghayeva<\/strong>, Aysel Umudova<\/strong>, and Fatima Movlamli<\/strong> joining the protest. This move follows similar actions by AbzasMedia journalists, including Sevinj Vagifgizi<\/strong>, Nargiz Absalamova<\/strong>, and Elnara Gasimova<\/strong>, who started their hunger strike on July 2 in support of AbzasMedia director Ulvi Hasanli<\/strong>. Hasanli himself commenced a hunger strike on June 26, protesting his transfer to the Umbak\u0131 Penitentiary Complex before his verdict had legally entered into force, and citing denial of visits with his wife and two-year-old daughter. Reports indicate Hasanli has been subjected to inhumane treatment and placed in a disciplinary cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arrests and subsequent legal proceedings against journalists from both Meydan TV and AbzasMedia have drawn significant international attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On June 20, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes delivered harsh verdicts in the “AbzasMedia case.” Director Ulvi Hasanli<\/strong>, Editor-in-Chief Sevinj Vagifgizi<\/strong>, investigative journalist Hafiz Babali<\/strong>, and Radio Azadliq journalist Farid Mehralizade<\/strong> were each sentenced to 9 years in prison. Journalists Nargiz Absalamova<\/strong> and Elnara Gasimova<\/strong> received 8-year sentences, while AbzasMedia coordinator Mahammad Kekalov<\/strong> was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The “Meydan TV case” has seen a wave of arrests stretching back to December 6, 2024, when the head of Meydan TV’s Azerbaijani representation, Aynur Elgunesh<\/strong>, along with journalists Ramin Jabrayilzade (Deko)<\/strong>, Aysel Umudova<\/strong>, Aytaj Tapdiq<\/strong>, Khayala Aghayeva<\/strong>, and Natig Javadli<\/strong>, were detained. Civil society member Ulvi Tahirov<\/strong> was also arrested on the same day, though he is not affiliated with Meydan TV. Subsequent arrests in early 2025 included Shamshad Aghayev (Agha)<\/strong>, editor-in-chief of “arqument.az” and a Meydan TV collaborator (February 5), Nurlan Gahramanli (Libre)<\/strong> (February 20), Fatima Movlamli<\/strong> (February 28), and Ulviyya Ali (Guliyeva)<\/strong> (May 7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n All arrested Meydan TV journalists, like their AbzasMedia counterparts, have been charged under Article 206.3.2 of the Criminal Code, pertaining to smuggling committed by a group in prior collusion. They vehemently deny these charges, asserting they are being punished for their critical journalistic activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent court developments have further exacerbated concerns. On July 2, the Baku Court of Appeals rejected appeals from Nurlan Gahramanli<\/strong> and Khayala Aghayeva<\/strong> against the extension of their pre-trial detentions. Similarly, on July 3, Natig Javadli’s<\/strong> appeal against his detention extension was also denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, on June 24, the Khatai District Court extended the detention periods for several other Meydan TV journalists\u2014including Ramin Deko<\/strong>, Aytaj Tapdiq<\/strong>, Natig Javadli<\/strong>, Khayala Aghayeva<\/strong>, Aysel Umudova<\/strong>, Shamshad Agha<\/strong>, Fatima Movlamli<\/strong>, Ulviyya Ali<\/strong>, and Ulvi Tahirov<\/strong>\u2014by another three months. The defense lawyers argue that no credible evidence has been presented to support the smuggling charges, maintaining that their clients are innocent and are being targeted for their professional work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An AbzasMedia statement issued on July 1 called upon President Ilham Aliyev, Minister of Justice Farid Ahmadov, Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev, and Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva to intervene in Ulvi Hasanli’s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, nearly 30 journalists and public activists are imprisoned in Azerbaijan on similar charges. Local human rights organizations estimate that there are over 370 political prisoners in Azerbaijani jails. While government officials consistently deny that any arrests are politically motivated or related to professional activities, international human rights organizations and Western officials continue to call on the Azerbaijani government to release those unjustly detained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Journalists affiliated with Meydan TV, currently held in custody, have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with their colleagues from AbzasMedia, who recently received lengthy prison sentences. This act of protest underscores the escalating crackdown on independent media in Azerbaijan, where numerous journalists and civil society activists face charges widely condemned by international human rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-30903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feed","tag-editor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30905,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30903\/revisions\/30905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Background to the Crackdown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Appeals Rejected, Detentions Extended<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Calls for Release<\/h3>\n\n\n\n