The International Press Institute (IPI) today called on authorities in Azerbaijan to release investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova while they investigate allegations that she incited a former colleague to attempt suicide. A Baku court on Friday ordered Ismayilova detained for two months pending trial, reportedly based on the accusations of a man who said she spread […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged Azerbaijan’s president to veto a bill that would expand the criminal offences of slander and insult to apply to information posted online. The country’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved the proposal, which now goes before President Ilham Aliyev, who in 2011 set forth a National Action Plan on […]

Azerbaijan should decriminalise defamation, not broaden it to target online media, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today. A parliamentary committee on Tuesday discussed a draft bill that would expand the crimes of slander and insult to apply to information posted online. The crimes currently apply to public statements and information transmitted through mass media. […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) expressed concern after a court in Baku yesterday sentenced an Azerbaijani journalist to nine years in prison on bribery-related charges that his supporters maintain were politically motivated. Former Khural editor Avaz Zeynalli has been behind bars since October 2011, when a pro-government lawmaker accused him of demanding money from her […]