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Azerbaijan's Crackdown on Dissent and Press Freedom Must End
The United States has called on the Government of Azerbaijan to free numerous dissidents, rights activists, and journalists who have been arrested for their advocacy of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In a recent statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Azerbaijan to “immediately” release Rufat Safarov, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Azer Gasimli, Farid Mehralizada, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, and Gubad Ibadoghlu, along with “recently detained associates of independent outlet Meydan TV, and many others arrested for their work on human rights. “The United States,” Secretary Blinken said, “is deeply concerned not only by these detentions, but by the increasing crackdown on civil society and media in Azerbaijan.”
The fact that Azerbaijan’s crackdown is expanding is chilling. The State Department’s most recent human rights report on Azerbaijan, which covered human rights conditions in 2023, noted that “[a]n NGO coalition estimated there were approximately 254 political prisoners and detainees as of December 1 [2023]. Political prisoners and detainees included an academic and anti-corruption advocate, democracy and human rights activists, journalists and bloggers, opposition political figures, [and] religious believers and activists.”
Two of the detainees named by Secretary Blinken had been selected to receive rewards by the U.S. State Department this month for promoting human rights and fighting corruption. Rufat Safarov is co-founder of Defense Line, an organization that documents politically motivated arrests, prosecutions and government corruption. Just days before he was to come to the United States to receive the Secretary of State’s Human Rights Defender Award, Rufat Safarov was arrested and put in pre-trial detention.
Sevinj Vagifgizi is editor-in-chief of Abzas Media, an independent anti-corruption media outlet, which has reported on cases involving government officials. “Her work,” as Secretary Blinken noted, “has drawn the ire of authorities.” Ms. Vagifgizi has been in pre-trial detention since November 2023. On December 9, she received the Secretary of State’s 2024 Anti-Corruption Champion’s Award in absentia.
“We urge the Government of Azerbaijan,” Secretary Blinken said, “to release those unjustly detained for their advocacy on behalf of human rights, cease its crackdown on civil society, respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all, and fulfill the commitments it made when it joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.”