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...

An international rights group has urged Azerbaijan to release jailed journalists who documented landmark environmental protests, marking the third anniversary of the demonstrations. Human Rights Solidarity (HRS) said a police blockade of Soyudlu village in western Azerbaijan remains in place three...

An imprisoned Azerbaijani activist has appealed directly to President Ilham Aliyev from pre-trial detention, urging the leader to end the prosecutions of independent journalists and civil society workers. Akif Qurbanov, the head of the Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI) and a...

An Azerbaijani court has sentenced independent journalist Nargiz Absalamova to eight years in prison following a defiant final speech denouncing government corruption. Absalamova, 25, a reporter for the investigative outlet Abzas Media, has been held in pre-trial detention for 19 months....

The International Press Institute (IPI) and International Media Support (IMS) have awarded their 2026 Free Media Pioneer award to exiled Azerbaijani outlets Meydan TV and AbzasMedia. The joint prize, which also went to the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP),...

Human rights group Amnesty International has launched a global campaign urging Azerbaijan’s 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...