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Azerbaijan is among the worst countries in the field of press freedom. The country worsened its position by 3 points in 2014. The number of imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan also increased. Azerbaijan has dropped by 8 points since 2010, the report Freedom of the Press 2015 by international human rights organization Freedom House states.

It is noted in the report that there are nine journalists in prison in Azerbaijan as of December 1. Over the course of that month, the authorities detained prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, raided and closed RFE/RL’s offices in the country, and interrogated the service’s local employees. A number of well-known media advocacy groups were also forced to close during the year. In Azerbaijan, the government unleashed a major crackdown on independent media, employing threats, raids, restrictive laws, and trumped-up criminal charges.

According to the report, restrictive new laws, violence against journalists, political and economic pressure on mass media and journalists resulted in a global decline of press freedom during 2014 bringing it to its lowest point in more than 10 years. Of the 199 countries and territories assessed during 2014, a total of 63 (32%) were rated Free, 71 (36%) Partly Free, and 65 (32%) Not Free.

The world’s 10 worst-rated countries and territories were Belarus, Crimea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

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