The IPI global network is alarmed by the repression of independent journalists in Azerbaijan, the recent scale of which is unsettling even in the context of the country’s grim political reality. The intensity of this repression – and the impunity for violence against journalists – is all the more striking as the COP29 global climate conference continues this week in Baku.

Since late November 2023, Azerbaijani authorities have embarked on a campaign of arrests of journalists and activists, which initially preceded presidential elections held on February 7, 2024. While the initial arrests targeted leading journalists at popular online outlet Abzas Media, these soon spread to other leading online outlets such as Kanal 11, Kanal 13, Turan and Toplum TV.

In parallel, Azerbaijani authorities under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev have detained dozens of activists on politically motivated charges. Among these was Anar Mammadli, a prominent human rights defender who was detained in April and who had earlier commented on the repression in Azerbaijan in an IPI analysis last February.

As of November 2024, IPI is aware of at least 18 journalists who were arrested in the past year on trumped-up charges such as currency smuggling and extortion. While behind bars, many of those detained faced torture and other mistreatment, with reports confirming for instance that Teymur Kerimov, the director of Kanal 11, had been beaten in custody.

“While journalists in Azerbaijan have always faced a particularly hostile political climate, the events of the past year have shown that the country’s authorities are capable of escalating repression beyond imaginable levels,” said IPI Interim Executive Director Scott Griffen. “IPI is deeply concerned by the weak reaction to this situation by the international community, which has failed to respond to these serious attacks on press freedom. Baku has even been rewarded by being able to host the annual COP climate conference.”

He added: “The United States, EU member states, and all other countries that are members of the Media Freedom Coalition should at the very least use this opportunity to speak up in defense of independent journalists and media in the country.”

In conversation with IPI, Azerbaijani activists and journalists in exile earlier also called on the international community to demand the implementation of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, which has regularly issued rulings against Azerbaijan for its unjustified jailing of journalists and activists.

Additionally, relevant institutions should demand that Azerbaijan fulfill its commitment to free media, an independent judiciary and rule of law, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, activists and journalists told IPI.