CPJ: The real goal of the Azerbaijani authorities is to completely stifle independent media

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned Azerbaijan’s Feb. 20 arrest of Nurlan Gahramanli and Feb. 28 arrest of Fatima Mövlamli—both freelance reporters for Germany-based outlet Meydan TV—on currency smuggling charges.

“The latest arrests in Azerbaijan’s unprecedented media crackdown show more clearly than ever that authorities’ real goal is to entirely stifle the work of independent media inside the country,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said.

According to Said, Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release Nurlan Gahramanli and Fatima Mövlamli, along with nearly two dozen other journalists currently jailed on clearly retaliatory charges. The arrests bring the total number of Meydan TV journalists jailed on currency smuggling charges to nine. Police detained six of the outlet’s staff in December and arrested journalist Shamshad Agha in February. The Meydan TV journalists are among at least 24 journalists and media workers currently jailed in Azerbaijan, one of the world’s top 10 jailers of journalists in 2024, according to CPJ’s annual prison census. Many of them are representatives of the country’s largest independent media outlets and are accused of smuggling.