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Famous investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova released from prison by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court’s decision is ready to continue her professional activity and struggle for the release of her colleagues and other activists, the Caucasian Knot reports.

“I will continue my work from the point it was stopped. Now I have more skills. I started learning Spanish while in prison. It means I can read the offshore documents in the original,” Ismayilova told the journalists. According to the journalist, the authorities’ hopes for the reduction of the criticism after her arrest have remained unfulfilled. 
 
She also expressed her gratitude for international human rights organizations for their disinterested, self-sacrificing, and consistent struggle for the release of the political prisoners in Azerbaijan. “I wish this struggle that was carried out for us continues in the future. We still have many political prisoners, who are not so famous. Some of them face tortures. There are political prisoners, whose names are not frequently mentioned in the international media. I wish we all work together in order to attract the international community’s attention towards these people,” Ismayilova continued.

Meanwhile, human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement, according to which, the release of Khadija Ismayilova is a welcome step but she will not have obtained justice until her conviction is quashed.

Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, Denis Krivosheev, said Khadija Ismayilova must be fully acquitted. “Numerous other prisoners of conscience are still in jail for exercising their right to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan and must also be freed to break this dangerous pattern of fear and repression,” Krivosheev added.

In her turn, Ismayilova told the portal Ekho Kavkaza that she did not expect to be released from prison, as the Supreme Court had denied the petition of another Azadliq journalist, SeymurHazi.

“I think the government realized that holding me in prison is costly for them, as they have not achieved any of the aims they pursued arresting me. They could not reduce the criticism towards the government, they could not reduce the number of investigations of their offshore companies. Therefore, my arrest did not help them in anything,” the journalist noted.

According to Azerbaijani sociologist and journalist Magerram Zeynalov, the Azerbaijani authorities’ agreements with the West have played the main role in Ismayilova’s release. Eldar Namazov also thinks that the pressure from the West was crucial. At the same time, despite Ismayilova and other political prisoners’ release within the past few months, Zeynalov does not see any signs of thaw, as several opposition NiDa movement activists have been arrested recently in the country. 

For its part, the New York Times also covered Ismayilova’s release, emphasizing that she had been jailed for exposing official corruption. It is noted that Suzanne Nossel, executive director of the PEN American Center, called Ismayilova “an intrepid force exposing corruption in Azerbaijan,” and said that her release “is a victory for journalists everywhere who go up against the toughest regimes bent on silencing those who dare challenge them.” 

Covering the journalist’s release, Al Jazeera writes that many rights groups have criticized the Azerbaijani government for cracking down on independent media and opposition activists. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/azerbaijan-releases-khadija-ismayilova-jail-160525144400012.html
It is noted that according to Nina Ognianova – a Europe and Central Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists – the ruling ordering Khadija Ismayilova freed is cause for celebration, but does not erase the rank injustice of her imprisonment. “We call on Azerbaijani authorities to remove the conditions on her freedom, and to release all journalists imprisoned for their work immediately,” Ognianova said.

Ismayilova vowed to continue her work and shrugged off fears for her personal safety. “My mother joked about this. She said: ‘When you're in prison, you're safer than when you're free because they wouldn't just kill you like that [in prison]’,” she said in an interview with RFE/RL. 

The website reminds that one of Ismayilova’s most notable investigations includes a report on how Aliyev's relatives personally profited in the construction of a $134 million concert hall built for the 2012 Eurovision pop song contest in Baku.

Meanwhile, EurasiaNet.org writes that questions persist about the Azerbaijani government’s motivation for the release, and whether it portends a loosening of restrictions on civil liberties at home and improved relations with the United States and European Union. 

It is noted that in a country like Azerbaijan, where the judiciary does not have a reputation for independence, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court’s ruling to free Ismayilova is widely seen as coming with the blessing of the government.

It is reminded that on June 17-19, Azerbaijan will host in Baku a Formula One sports-car race. It is highlighted that like the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest and the 2015 European Games, the auto race is a presidential pet project. In connection with that high-profile event, Sports for Rights, a coalition of international and Azerbaijani activists, is aiming to highlight Azerbaijan’s human rights problems. “We hope that the authorities will understand that having political prisoners is destroying the image of Azerbaijan ahead of these events,” commented Rasul Jafarov, a human rights defender and former political prisoner, in an earlier interview with EurasiaNet.org.

According to the article, given the oil prices, along with a weak domestic currency, authorities are starting to struggle to find the cash to keep Azerbaijan’s ambitious energy and infrastructure projects afloat. The economic downturn is already jeopardizing political support for the government, as protests earlier this year demonstrated.  Ismayilova’s release, along with other potential steps to improve relations with the West, could make it easier for Baku to make deals with international financial institutions.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports that in Washington, dozens of civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists held a protest in front of the White House on May 26 to support Khadija Ismayilova, who turns 40 today. Congressman Jim McGovern, as well as representatives of Amnesty International, Freedom House, Freedom Now, Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, and many other organizations joined the protest.

The participants of the protests had Khadija Ismayilova’s portraits in their hands and called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately stop repressions against dissidents and to release all the political prisoners.

On 1 September 2015, Baku Court of Grave Crimes handed down a 7.6 years prison sentence to the Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The court found her guilty of the Articles 179 (embezzlement and misappropriation), 192 (illegal business), 213 (tax evasion) and 308 (abuse of power) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Ismayilova was cleared from the article 125 (incitement to commit suicide) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. Earlier, the public prosecutor, RamazanHadiyev, had claimed 9 years of imprisonment for Khadija Ismayilova. The journalist was detained on 5 December 2014, which was followed by a wave of condemning statements by a number of international organisations and influential representatives from various states, who claimed her arrest was politically motivated.