Azerbaijani photojournalist Ahmad Mukhtar has been arrested, the 12th person to be detained as part of the case against independent media outlet Meydan TV.
Mukhtar was arrested on Wednesday and remanded to 40 days in pre-trial detention by Baku City’s Khatai District Court. Meydan TV reported that he would receive a state-appointed lawyer as his defence counsel.
The campaign against Meydan TV began on 6 December 2024 with the arrest of journalist Ramin Jabrayilzada, also known as Deko. The following day, the outlet’s Baku staff — Aynur Gambarova, who goes by the penname Elgunash, Natig Javadli, Aytaj Ahmadova, also known as Tapdig, Aysel Umudova, and Khayala Aghayeva — were arrested on charges of smuggling foreign currency.
Following these arrests, Meydan TV’s editor, Orkhan Mammad, shared a Facebook post, stating that at least 13 people total had been detained and that several were without a lawyer.
Besides the six Meydan TV journalists, those detained in connection with the case were Baku School of Journalism’s Deputy Director Ulvi Tahirov; animal rights activist Kamran Mammadli; journalist Rashad Ergun; Yunis Rzayev, who was detained with Aghayeva; and a friend of Umudova’s, Elnur Jabbarzada. Mukhtar was also detained at this time, but was released after spending 20 days in a pre-trial detention facility.
Hamida Giyasbayli
In February 2025, Shamshad Aghayev (Agha), the editor-in-chief of the Argument media outlet, as well as journalists Fatima Movlamli and Nurlan Gahramanli (Libre), were arrested in connection with this case.
In May, journalist Ulviyya Ali (Guliyeva) was arrested.
Police finish their investigation into Meydan TV
On Thursday, the Baku City Main Police Department announced they had completed their investigation into the Meydan TV case, after which the final charges were announced against the imprisoned journalists.
According to Meydan TV, their journalists have been charged under a total of eight criminal articles, including illegal entrepreneurship with large-scale income, legalisation of property obtained through crime, smuggling by an organised group, tax evasion, and forgery.
The case will now be sent to the Baku Grave Crimes Court.
Previously, on 15 August, the detained Meydan TV journalists issued a joint statement from prison, accusing the authorities of preparing a ‘new fraud’.
‘We say to the authorities, who are creating a political show for the public, if your expectations have been shattered, do not compensate for this with another fraud. There is no criminal element in our actions. Journalism is not a crime!’, the statement read.
Charges of smuggling or other foreign currency-related crimes have been repeatedly employed against independent journalists or other critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government.
The latest and perhaps final wave of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent media began one year ago with the raid on independent media outlet Abzas Media’s offices and the detention of seven of their journalists and employees.
In June, Abzas Media’s director, Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifgizi), and investigative journalist Hafiz Babali were sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of smuggling foreign currency as a group and money laundering. Journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova were sentenced to eight years, and Mahammad Kekalov, a coordinator at Abzas Media, was sentenced to seven and a half years of prison.
Farid Mehralizada, a journalist at RFE/RL, was also sentenced to nine years. He was detained in June 2024.
Aytan Farhadova
