Human rights group Amnesty International has launched a global campaign urging Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev to provide urgent medical care to jailed journalist Nargiz Absalamova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absalamova, a reporter for the independent investigative outlet AbzasMedia, is serving an eight-year prison sentence at the Lankaran Penitentiary Complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty said she has been denied an MRI scan and essential medical checks for four months to treat worsening sinusitis, which has left her suffering from severe headaches and breathing difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her lawyer, Behruz Bayramov, has repeatedly appealed to both prison authorities and the country’s human rights ombudsman but has received no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prison officials reportedly told Bayramov that the medical request was awaiting “approval from above”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, Amnesty warned that withholding medical care from Absalamova and other detained journalists could amount to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organisation also highlighted the death in custody of information security expert Ilgar Aliyev in May, whose unexplained death has raised fears over prison medical services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign has urged President Aliyev to secure the immediate release of Absalamova and her colleagues, investigate allegations of medical neglect, and guarantee adequate detention conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Azerbaijan’s prison service has regularly faced criticism from domestic and international watchdogs over overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absalamova was arrested in November 2023 during a sweeping crackdown on AbzasMedia, an outlet known for investigating high-level corruption in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 20 June 2025, the Baku Grave Crimes Court sentenced seven of the outlet’s employees to prison terms ranging from seven and a half to nine years on charges including smuggling, illegal entrepreneurship, and tax evasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The journalists have consistently rejected the charges, maintaining that their prosecution is politically motivated and directly linked to their professional work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 3 April 2026, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court rejected their final appeals and upheld the convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Amnesty, approximately 30 journalists and media workers have been detained in Azerbaijan since the crackdown on independent media intensified in late 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Human rights group Amnesty International has launched a global campaign urging Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev to provide urgent medical care to jailed journalist Nargiz Absalamova. Absalamova, a reporter for the independent investigative outlet AbzasMedia, is serving an eight-year prison sentence at the Lankaran Penitentiary Complex. Amnesty said she has been denied an MRI scan and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1047],"class_list":["post-31593","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\/31593","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=31593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31595,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31593\/revisions\/31595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irfs.org\/az\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}