Your trusted source

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to end their crackdown on the press after a five-year sentence was handed to reporter Seymur Hazi, according to news reports. The pre-trial detention of investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was also extended this week, news reports said, the CJP reports on its website.

"Authorities in Azerbaijan claim that no reporters are jailed for their work, but we disagree. The country is now the leading jailer of journalists in the region," said Muzaffar Suleymanov, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia research associate. "We urge President Ilham Aliyev to reverse repressive policies against critics, and release Seymur Hazi, Khadija Ismayilova, and other imprisoned journalists."

The statement notes that at present there are 8 imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan.

Seymur Hazi wrote analytical article in the newspaper "Azadlig" on the themes of domestic and foreign policy, in which he criticized the Azerbaijani authorities. He was also one of the leading announcers of the program called "Azerbaijani hour", which also severely criticized issues of corruption and human rights violations in Azerbaijan. The journalist is also a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Assembly of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan and a member of the National Council of Democratic Forces.

Earlier Hazi was subjected to pressure for his professional activities. In April 2013, he stated that he was attacked by the inspectors of the Transport Department of Ministry of Transport, while trying to protect a colleague of his. In March 2011, Hazi was kidnapped and beaten in the village of Jeyranbatan which is located 20 km north of the capital of Azerbaijan. He stated that the cause of the incident served his professional activities.