Azerbaijan: Pro-Government Media Workers Honored, Journalists who Criticize are in Jail !
Azerbaijan: Pro-government journalists are being honored in Azerbaijan, while journalists who criticize the government are being jailed on charges of black money and money laundering! In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Azerbaijan's National Press Day, President Ilham Aliyev has honored 200 representatives of pro-government media institutions. On july 22, 2025, Aliyev said that pro-government media representatives are being honored 'for their services in the development of Azerbaijan's national press'.
Assistant to the President Hikmet Hajiyev congratulated pro-government media representatives on social media platform X, saying that Azerbaijani media has 'transcended national borders' and 'serves as one of the most influential instruments of Azerbaijan's soft power, in line with the country's dynamic and modern foreign policy agenda'.
On the other hand, the anti-corruption investigative media outlet 'Abzas Media' said on Tuesday (july 22) that most of its jailed employees, including editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova Vagifgizi and journalists Elnara Gasimova and Nargiz Absalamova, have started a hunger strike on Azerbaijan's National Press Day. The hunger strike of Abzas Media journalists was in support of another jailed journalist Ulvi Hasanli, who started his hunger strike on Sunday.
The government's critical media is being continuously targeted in Azerbaijan. Earlier on June 20, 2025, an Azerbaijani court had sent 7 media workers to jail on different charges. Farid Mehralizada, a journalist and economist of the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi and investigative journalist Hafiz Babali were sentenced to nine years. Abzas Media journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova were sentenced to eight years in prison, and the channel's deputy director Mehmed Kekelov was sentenced to seven and a half years.
In November 2023, six journalists from Abzas Media were arrested. Authorities claimed they found 40,000 euros in cash at the outlet's office in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and charged them with conspiring to bring foreign currency into Azerbaijan.
Farid Mehralizade was arrested in May 2024 in the same case, although both he and Abzas Media said they never worked for the outlet. Later that year, authorities filed additional charges against Mehralizade and the journalists from Abazas Media, including illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion, document forgery, and more.
In his closing statement to the court, Mehralizade had said, "The truth is that I have not committed any crime. Independent media is the greatest means of serving the state, nation and humanity. Unfortunately, journalism in our country today is equated with terrorism."
In his last interview with Abzas Media before his arrest, Farid Mehralizade pointed to the government's failure to increase the minimum wage stipulated in the country's development policy documents. Abzas Media has been a target of the Azerbaijani government due to frequent investigations into large-scale corruption.
On June 30, 2025, Russian Sputnik journalists, specifically Sputnik Azerbaijan's Igor Kartavykh (executive director) and Yevgeny Belousov (editor-in-chief), were arrested during a police raid on the outlet's office in Baku due to reporting that embarrassed the government. They were taken from their office as if they were hardened criminals. A total of seven people associated with Sputnik Azerbaijan were detained, including Kartavykh and Belousov, who were placed under formal pre-trial arrest for four months on charges of fraud, illegal entrepreneurship and money laundering.
Several arrests have also been made targeting journalists and media workers associated with Germany-based independent Azerbaijani media outlet Meydan TV. At least nine journalists have been detained in Azerbaijan since December 2024 on charges of alleged currency smuggling. Meydan TV is known for its critical reporting on the government. Meydan TV's journalists have been targeted after being accused of illegally importing foreign currency.
The crackdown against Meydan TV began on December 6, 2024, with the detention of six journalists: Aynur Ganbarova (Elgunash), Aytaj Ahmadova (Tapdig), Khayala Agayeva, Natig Javadli, Aysel Umudova and Ramin Jabrayilzada (Deko). These journalists were arrested in Baku, some at the airport and others at their homes, and their homes were searched, equipment and personal belongings were confiscated. Subsequently, Shamshad Aghayev (February 6, 2025), Nurlan Gahramanli (February 20, 2025) and Fatima Movlamli (February 28, 2025) were also arrested on similar charges. In addition, Ulvi Tahirov, deputy director of the Baku School of Journalism, was also detained in the same case.
Azerbaijani journalist and human rights activist Ulviyya Ali is in pre-trial detention at the Baku Pre-Trial Detention Center. She was arrested on May 7, 2025, following a raid on her apartment during which authorities claimed to have found more than 6,000 euros in cash. She is accused of smuggling material into Azerbaijan during a visit in December 2024. Ulviyya Ali says her detention is solely due to her journalistic work. If convicted, she could face up to eight years in prison.
Azerbaijan: Ulviyya Ali has become 11th journalist detained in MeydanTV case. She was detained by Baku Police Depart on 7 May & her home was searched. Several MeydanTV journalists have been detained under allegedly politically motivated & vague charges such as tax evasion etc. pic.twitter.com/RasPjJ2v2H
— VOiCE OF MEDIA (@voiceofmedia1) May 8, 2025
Facing persistent government pressure, Meydan TV was banned in Azerbaijan in 2017. The channel and its supporters claim the arrests are part of a wider campaign to silence independent journalism in Azerbaijan, particularly following its coverage of government corruption, human rights issues and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Pro-government media have accused Meydan TV of Western funding and links to Armenian interests, although the channel denies these allegations. International organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, have condemned the arrests as retaliatory action, and said Azerbaijan is set to become one of the top countries to imprison journalists globally in 2024.
Leyla Mustafayeva, an Azerbaijani journalist living in exile in Germany, said that the government awarded 200 media-related fines on the 150th anniversary of the National Press Day not for their services in the development of the national press, but for 'their silence' during the destruction of independent media, their loyalty to the government and for becoming government propagandists. Mustafayeva said, "They have all become press services of government institutions. They are publishing all incoming information without any questions. They are presenting them the way the government wants to hear them. Therefore, they cannot be called independent journalists."
Mustafayeva stressed, 'They have destroyed the independent and critical press of Azerbaijan in various ways and made it a slave of the government.' She said that 'independent and critical journalists working in the country are being arrested on a large scale since the end of 2023.' She also said that if Hasan Bey Zardabi, the founder of the first Azerbaijani-language newspaper, were alive today, 'he would also have been arrested and handcuffed.'
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