Azerbaijan
A generation under pressure — the future of activism in Azerbaijan
Despite the risks, a new generation of activists are continuing to raise their voices, from advocating for peace to protecting women’s rights.
Ismi Aghayev
Ismi has worked as a journalist since 2017 and is passionate about multimedia journalism. He is particularly interested in peacebuilding and human rights.
OC Insider
Three years at the OC Media academy
It was early 2021 when I joined OC Media as a staff writer. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging, and Azerbaijan had just come out of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The conflict, which began in the early 1990s, had never ended, changing its mask temporarily with its second major war. Azerbaijan, from where I hail as a journalist, has been suffering from many fundamental problems since its independence. Several more emerged since I joined OC Media — the ongoing closure of the country’s land borde
Azerbaijan
Imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition figure Ibadoghlu could ‘fall into coma’
The lawyer and family of the imprisoned opposition figure Gubad Ibadoghlu have accused the authorities of withholding treatment to Ibadoghlu and warned that he could fall into a coma. Ibadoghlu was arrested in July 2023 on charges of printing, acquiring, or selling counterfeit money and supporting religious extremism. [Listen on the Caucasus Digest: Podcast | The arrest of Gubad Ibadoghlu] On Monday, his lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigova, stated that Ibadoghlu was being denied treatment despite suf
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan detains opposition youth activist
Azerbaijani police have detained a youth activist associated with the imprisoned opposition figure Gubad Ibadoghlu. Ayyub Chalabi was detained on 10 February. His father, Khayyam Chalabi, stated that the 23-year-old activist had disappeared after going out to buy bread from a store close to their home in Baku. ‘I learned from the neighbours that three people in civilian clothes stopped my son in the yard of our house and took him away in their car’, said Chalabi’s father, who chairs a local
Abzas Media
AbzasMedia to continue from exile despite imprisonment of management team
The embattled Azerbaijani news site AbzasMedia will continue to operate from exile, despite its entire management team and several journalists having been imprisoned by Azerbaijan’s authorities. On Thursday, Abzas named veteran Azerbaijani journalist Leyla Mustafayeva as editor-in-chief. The move is understood to have been approved by the site’s founders. ‘The government has depleted the resources of AbzasMedia by arresting its employees, and the resulting repressive environment makes it im
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan leaves PACE after vote to exclude their delegation
Azerbaijan has suspended its participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), after the body voted not to ratify the Azerbaijani delegation’s credentials. On 24 January, 76 delegates voted in favour of excluding Azerbaijan over its human rights record, with 10 voting against and 4 abstaining. Shortly before the vote, Azerbaijan’s delegation announced that it was suspending participation in and cooperation with the body indefinitely. Reasons given in favour of
