The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) condemns the blocking of the satirical www.eqreb.com website by the government and assesses it as government censorship of internet websites.

Access to www.eqreb.com website has been blocked in Azerbaijan since October 8th. The website can only be accessed via proxy servers, which proves that the website has been blocked within the country.

IRFS believes that the blocking of the www.eqreb.com website is not a rare case. Earlier, “Tinsohbeti.com”, “Susmayaq.biz” websites, which sharply criticized the government, had faced the same ban. Later they had to stop their operation. Moreover, oppositional critical newpapers severeal times faced hacker attacks and access to the websites like www.nakhchivan.org.az, www.azadliq.org were sometimes blocked in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
IRFS condemns any form of censorhip imposed by Azerbaijani government on mass media and internet, and calls on the government to stop such bans.