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''Reporters Without Borders'' condemns the media law amendments promulgated last week by President Ilham Aliyev, which make it even easier for the government to close news outlets, the statement posted on the organisation website reads.

According to the statement, under the amendments signed into law on 3 February, the justice ministry of Azerbaijan can now ask a court to close any news outlet if it gets foreign funding or if it is found guilty of defamation twice in the space of a year.

Johann Bihr, the head of the ''Reporters Without Borders'' Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said that this tightening of the media legislation is just the latest example of the Aliyev regime’s more and more draconian measures.

“The only surprise is its superfluous nature, inasmuch as the authorities usually do not hesitate to trample on their own laws in order to silence critics. Presumably it is meant to send an additional threatening message to the few remaining sources of independently reported news and information,” he added.

The statement also notes that the main opposition newspaper, Azadlig, which is already on the verge of being financially throttled out of existence, regards itself as one of the main targets of these amendments.

They were submitted to parliament by President Aliyev himself on 5 December – the day that Khadija Ismayilova, a well-known investigative journalist, was jailed on trumped-up charges – and were passed without any changes 11 days later. The Baku bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was raided on 26 December by officials, who closed it down, while the prosecutor’s office said it was being investigated for acting as a “foreign agent.”

''Reporters Without Borders'' also reminds that Azerbaijan is ranked 160th out of 180 countries in the press freedom index, with at least 12 journalists and bloggers currently detained.