The December 13 detention of investigative journalist Hafiz Babali is the latest in a crackdown against the press in Azerbaijan. He is at least the seventh member of the press arrested in retaliation for his work in Azerbaijan in the past month.
Azerbaijani authorities have ordered Babali along with four journalists of the anti-corruption news organization Abzas Media to be held in pretrial detention for up to four months on currency smuggling charges. These charges come amidst accusations by authorities that Western embassies and donors funded the outlet illegally.
Authorities are now allowing the outlet’s director Ulvi Hasanli to call his lawyers, while he and another journalist in detention have been banned from meeting or speaking with their families.
Azerbaijani authorities are targeting Abzas Media in order to silence its uncompromising reporting on official corruption allegations. Committee to Protect (CPJ) has called on authorities in Azerbaijan to immediately release Babali along with all other unjustly jailed journalists and stop the ongoing wave of reprisals against the independent press.
CPJ is currently investigating the cases of three other journalists arrested on extortion charges since December 8 to determine if the arrests are related to their work. Azerbaijan was recently named host of the U.N. climate change COP29 summit in 2024.
Separately this week, CPJ joined more than 2,000 journalists, media workers, and nonprofit organizations in demanding a stop to journalist deaths in the Israel-Gaza war.
“Journalism plays an essential role in documenting history and serving the public interest by exposing realities too often obscured by disinformation and misinformation,” the statement reads. “Our reporting can reveal the true costs of war.”
