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As Azerbaijan's October presidential election approaches, the authorities seem more determined than ever to restrict citizens' access to information, Rebecca Vincent is an American-British human rights activist writes at Al Jazeera news agency.

“Now, it appears that Azerbaijanis are also facing restrictions in accessing broadcast programmes from outside of the country.
Several foreign outlets have noted deliberate broadcast interferences, known as jamming, and is a practice that violates both international telecommunications regulations and human rights law,” the author writes.

According to the article the state has long dominated the broadcast media in Azerbaijan. Of the country's nine national television stations, three are directly owned by the state, and the six private stations are heavily influenced through the state's control over advertising revenues. The 12 national radio stations also fail to provide a plurality of programming.

It says that since January 2009, foreign broadcasters have been banned from accessing national frequencies in Azerbaijan, a move that took the Azerbaijani services of the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Voice of America off the air, effectively eliminating the only international sources of broadcast news in the country.

“As a result, many Azerbaijanis are exposed only to the state's version of events, which prioritises coverage of President Ilham Aliyev,” the article reads.

The author also notes that the Azerbaijanis watch the television idolizing the late former President - and father of the current President - Heydar Aliyev, and heavily skewing or completely omitting reporting on significant events with political implications, such as anti-government protests or trials of political prisoners.

According to the article in the absence of independent broadcasting within the country, satellite broadcasts from outside the country have become increasingly important, providing citizens with valuable access to independent information and a rare glimpse of political views that differ from those of the ruling party.

Since losing the ability to broadcast on national frequencies, RFE/RL has continued to disseminate Azerbaijani-language content
online, and in a weekly news magazine programme broadcast into the country via satellite. But now this content is also under threat.
On June 20, 2013, RFE/RL reported several instances of jamming with its satellite broadcast into Azerbaijan since Aprli 2013, Al Jazeera reports.

In its press release on the disruption, RFE/RL stated, "the current interference has many of the characteristics of deliberate interference. It only occurs during programs in the Azerbaijani language. The interfering signal carries no content, indicating its sole purpose is to disrupt other programming."

Rebecca Vincent says that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), of which Azerbaijan is a member, prohibits jamming, as stipulated in Article 45 of the ITU's Constitution and Article 15 of the ITU's Radio Regulations. Jamming is also considered as a violation of the right to freedom of expression, which Azerbaijan has committed to respect and protect through its ratification of major international and regional treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the author of the article in addition to violations of ITU regulations and international human rights law, disruptions of satellite broadcasts of independent news coverage in Azerbaijan negatively impacts the chances of October's presidential election being conducted in accordance with international democratic standards. “If citizens have no access to information about the true state of affairs in their country and are not exposed to a plurality of political opinions, the electoral process cannot be considered free and fair,” the author says.

She notes that so far, the international community has remained largely silent on the issue. Though says that the reported disruption to their broadcasting is a serious negative development that should be urgently addressed by international organisations and democratic countries with relations with Azerbaijan, starting by pressing the ITU to investigate the reported interference and take action to address any violations.