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IRFS - Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety​

IRFS - Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety​

The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) appeal to the authorities of Azerbaijan with demand to solve the murder of journalist Elmar Huseynov and punish both the ones that ordered and executed the shocking crime committed 17 years ago – on March 2 2005. IRFS deem that one of the major critics of the present authorities, editor-in-chief of a popular independent publisher ‘Monitor’, killed with shots at door of his house, became the most symbolic victim of the independent journalism of Azerbaijan.

 
 

IRFS - Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety​

Panel discussion at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva featuring four speakers seated at a conference table with microphones and laptops. A large screen behind them displays 'FREE IGBAL ABILOV' in blue text. Name placards visible include E. HUSEYNOV, I. TENYUTA, and M. HUSEYNOV. The setting is a formal UN conference room with wood paneling and the UN logo visible on screens in the background.
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Human Rights Experts Address Crisis of Political Imprisonment and Civil Society Suppression in Azerbaijan

https://youtu.be/E5acRd-gCfo?si=WzZZJ_VQMiJsiRuL GENEVA, Switzerland– June 20, 2025 – The Institute for Human Rights (IHR) and The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) hosted a critical dialogue on the escalating global crisis of political imprisonment and systematic suppression of civil society organizations...
Aynur Elgunesh
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My Spiritual Torture

Aynur Elgunesh, editor-in-chief of Meydan TV who is in detention, writes from Kurdakhani Detention Center: "Human rights defenders should take note. Azerbaijan is a strange country. Here, a child is a source of security, an heir, a being who will carry you...
AbzasMedia
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‘Exposing Illegalities Became the Crime’: Lawyers Denounce Abzas Media Trials as Politically Driven

Since November 2023, six employees of Abzas Media—a Baku‑based outlet renowned for its corruption investigations—along with two allied journalists, have been held on charges ranging from smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship to document forgery. arrested were: Ulvi Hasanli, director Muhammad Kekalov, deputy director Sevinc Vaqifqizi, chief editor Nargiz Absalamova and...
Formula and TV Pirveli logos; source: Formula and TV Pirveli Facebook pages
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Georgia’s Ruling Party Escalates Legal Clampdown on Opposition TV Channels

Tbilisi, June 3, 2025 — The ruling Georgian Dream party has initiated formal complaints with the National Communications Commission against three major opposition-leaning television stations—Formula, TV Pirveli, and Mtavari—alleging that journalists and anchors used “anti-government” terminology in violation of recent...
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Panel discussion at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva featuring four speakers seated at a conference table with microphones and laptops. A large screen behind them displays 'FREE IGBAL ABILOV' in blue text. Name placards visible include E. HUSEYNOV, I. TENYUTA, and M. HUSEYNOV. The setting is a formal UN conference room with wood paneling and the UN logo visible on screens in the background.
Continue reading

Human Rights Experts Address Crisis of Political Imprisonment and Civil Society Suppression in Azerbaijan

https://youtu.be/E5acRd-gCfo?si=WzZZJ_VQMiJsiRuL GENEVA, Switzerland– June 20, 2025 – The Institute for Human Rights (IHR) and The Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) hosted a critical dialogue on the escalating global crisis of political imprisonment and systematic suppression of civil society organizations...
Aynur Elgunesh
Continue reading

My Spiritual Torture

Aynur Elgunesh, editor-in-chief of Meydan TV who is in detention, writes from Kurdakhani Detention Center: "Human rights defenders should take note. Azerbaijan is a strange country. Here, a child is a source of security, an heir, a being who will carry you...
AbzasMedia
Continue reading

‘Exposing Illegalities Became the Crime’: Lawyers Denounce Abzas Media Trials as Politically Driven

Since November 2023, six employees of Abzas Media—a Baku‑based outlet renowned for its corruption investigations—along with two allied journalists, have been held on charges ranging from smuggling and illegal entrepreneurship to document forgery. arrested were: Ulvi Hasanli, director Muhammad Kekalov, deputy director Sevinc Vaqifqizi, chief editor Nargiz Absalamova and...
Formula and TV Pirveli logos; source: Formula and TV Pirveli Facebook pages
Continue reading

Georgia’s Ruling Party Escalates Legal Clampdown on Opposition TV Channels

Tbilisi, June 3, 2025 — The ruling Georgian Dream party has initiated formal complaints with the National Communications Commission against three major opposition-leaning television stations—Formula, TV Pirveli, and Mtavari—alleging that journalists and anchors used “anti-government” terminology in violation of recent...
Ulviyya Ali
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Baku TV Propaganda Report Falsely Accuses Ulviyya Ali of Smuggling

Why This Propaganda Demands Scrutiny Across authoritarian contexts, propaganda functions as a powerful tool to manufacture consent, confuse public opinion, and obscure state abuses. In Azerbaijan’s “Meydan TV case,” independent journalist Ulviyya Ali (Guliyeva) has become the target of precisely such...
Ali Karimli
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Systematic Legal Harassment of AXCP Chairman Ali Karimli and His Inner Circle

Lead / IntroductionOver the past year, Azerbaijan’s Popular Front Party (AXCP) chairman, Ali Karimli, has faced a series of escalating defamation charges and fines—while multiple volunteer drivers, bodyguards, and party activists have simultaneously been arrested, detained, or charged under administrative...
Farid Mehralizade
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AbzasMedia Case: Journalist Detained for Exposing Government Propaganda

One year after his arrest on May 30, 2024, economist-journalist Farid Mehralizade remains detained on politically charged smuggling and related accusations. While state prosecutors seek up to 12 years in prison and confiscation of his car, Mehralizade spends each day...
Foto: Leyla Mustafayeva
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“Abzas Media” Awarded Special Prize by the European Press Prize

In recognition of its courage under repression and its role in an unprecedented international collaboration, Abzas Media has been honored with the European Press Prize’s Special Award for its contribution to The Baku Connection consortium. Building on Silenced VoicesCoordinated by the...
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