Prominent Azerbaijani Journalist Khadija Ismayilova Arrested

Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova

On December 5, Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was summoned to appear in a Baku court regarding a case in which she is accused of inciting a man to commit suicide. The court ordered that Ismayilova be held in pretrial detention for two months. The prominent journalist works for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović condemned her arrest and stated: “The arrest of Ismayilova is nothing but orchestrated intimidation, which is a part of the ongoing campaign aimed at silencing her free and critical voice.” Ismayilova faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Mijatović went on to say, “I repeat my call on the authorities in Azerbaijan to stop this practice, which is detrimental to media freedom.”

Baku’s heavy handed methods to silence human rights activists and journalists has been on the rise recently. A number of activists are currently in Azerbaijani prisons on a number of crimes, most of them on allegedly trumped up charges. They include, Rasul Jafarov, free speech advocate, on charges of abuse of power and tax evasion; Seymur Hazi, columnist for Azadliq newspaper, on a charge of hooliganism; Omar Mamedov and Abdul Abilov, bloggers, on charges of illegal storage and sale of drugs; Parviz Hashimli, journalist, on charges of smuggling and illegal storage and sale of firearms; Nijat Aliyev, editor-in-chief of azadxeber.org news website, on various charges, including drug possession and incitement of hatred; Sardar Alibeyli, editor-in-chief of P.S. Nota newspaper, on charges of hooliganism; Rashad Ramazanov, an independent blogger, on charges of illegal storage and sale of drugs, and others.

RFE/RL reported that Ismayilova has also been charged in a separate case that concerns a document she circulated on social media claiming that Azerbaijan’s secret services used an illegally filmed sex tape to blackmail an opposition activist into informing on other opposition figures.

Khadija Ismayilova has been an outspoken critic of President Ilham Aliyev’s controversial business interests.