The International Press Institute (IPI) is saddened at the death in prison on Monday of Azeri journalist Novruzali Mammadov. The 68-year-old former editor-in-chief of Tolishi Sado (“Voice of Talysh”) was serving a controversial 10-year jail sentence handed down in 2008 for alleged “espionage.”

Mammadov, who died of natural causes, had suffered deteriorating health since his initial incarceration in February 2007.

An Azeri court found Mammadov – a vocal defender of the human rights of the Talysh peoples – guilty of “high treason” and “inciting national, racial and religious hatred” in June 2008 for allegedly spying on behalf of Iran, and “collecting information necessary for the establishment of an administrative autonomy in the territories of Azerbaijan populated by the Talysh people.”

According to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, or Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH), Mammadov claimed he was tortured during interrogation.

Prosecutors reportedly built the case against Mammadov entirely on statements made by Elman Quliyev, a co-worker at Tolishi Sado, who is himself currently serving a six-year sentence on charges similar to those used to imprison Mammadov.

The FIDH fears that investigators also obtained Quliyev’s statements through the use of torture.

Azerbaijan is Europe’s worst jailer of journalists, with at least four other Azeri journalists currently serving prison sentences that international and intergovernmental organisations have criticised as unjust.

They include Eynulla Fatullayev, the former editor-in-chief of the independent Azeri newspapers Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azarbaycan, for whose release IPI is campaigning as part of its “Justice Denied” campaign.

Fatullayev is serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison term for charges considered spurious by both Azeri journalists’ and international human rights organisations.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Novruzali Mammadov,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “His death in prison underscores the desperate need for the Azeri government to address the wrongful jailing of journalists. Azerbaijan must understand that it cannot escape criticism simply by locking up journalists who reveal uncomfortable truths.”