Azerbaijan jails 21st journalist in 15 months amid crackdown

Azerbaijan jails 21st journalist in 15 months

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the arrest of Shamshad Agha, chief editor of the independent news site Arqument.az, and called on Azerbaijani authorities to release him and at least 19 journalists and media workers from some of Azerbaijan’s largest remaining independent media.

“Shamshad Agha’s arrest underscores a grim intent by Azerbaijani authorities to silence and further restrict the country’s small and embattled independent media community,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Azerbaijan’s government should immediately reverse its unprecedented media crackdown and release Agha along with all other unjustly jailed journalists.”

Police in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, detained Agha on the night of February 4 and searched his home, confiscating his computer, an old cell phone, his brother’s phone, and other data storage and computer equipment, according to news reports.

Agha’s lawyer Shahla Humbatova told media that Agha was arrested as a suspect in a criminal case against Germany-based outlet Meydan TV, with which Agha also collaborates. Six Meydan TV journalists were detained on currency smuggling charges in December.

CPJ’s annual prison census found that Azerbaijan was among the world’s top 10 jailers of journalists in 2024.