Human rights groups call on Azerbaijan to investigate sexual harassment of jailed journalists
Nine international human rights organisations have called on the Azerbaijani government to investigate the alleged sexual harassment and ill-treatment of journalists Aysel Umudova and Ulviyya Guliyeva (Ali) in custody. Both journalists are currently jailed in connection with a criminal case against the independent media outlet Meydan TV.
The organisations including the Human Rights House foundation, Amnesty International, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Humans Rights Defenders.
The joint statement comes after Umudova published a letter in Meydan TV in December 2025, describing how she was sexually harassed by a police officer during her arrest in Guba in December of the previous year.
During the three-hour drive to Baku in the police car following her arrest, Umudova said she had a panic attack and asked police to pull over at a roadside stand.
‘The large, dark-skinned, gray-haired man [a police officer] sitting to my left was attempting to administer first aid. At least, that’s what I thought. He stroked my wrist to stabilise me. When I felt the hand I’d felt on my wrist on my leg, I thought he’d touched my leg. I pushed his hands away. Then, when he placed his hands on my knee again and touched my leg, I quickly pulled my hand away and put it in my pocket. Seeing that I’d figured out the situation, he moved to the other end of the seat’.
Umudova later added that it took her a year to digest the sexual harassment she experienced.
The human rights groups stated that Umudova’s letter reminded them of Guliyeva’s earlier letter, in which she wrote that during her detention on 6 May 2025, she was beaten by investigators and was threatened with rape if she did not agree to share her passwords.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
‘I want everyone to know that I received rape threats from Azerbaijani police twice in one day!’
The organisations argued that the situations the journalists faced in custody constituted ‘sexual and gender-based violence and the treatment they experienced violates the prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment’.
Emphasising that the allegations would be criminal if proven true, the organisations noted that ‘failure to investigate allegations of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and ill-treatment’ were contrary to domestic laws and international conventions which Azerbaijan had ratified.
The groups then called on the Azerbaijani government to ‘immediately and unconditionally’ release Umudova and Guliyeva and drop all politically motivated charges against them and other prisoners.
On Friday, Umudova appeared at court for another hearing related to the ongoing Meydan TV case. Her mother, Malahat Abbasova, left the hearing early, due to high blood pressure. She told OC Media that she cried the entire time in the courtroom.
‘When I learned about the sexual assault, it was very difficult for me to accept. You can imagine what it was like when she was in custody, and how disgusting it was’.
Continuing to cry during the phone conversation, she said she was proud of her daughter and Guliyeva for speaking openly about an unhealed wound that will remain with them for life.
