Index on Censorship today announces the shortlist for the 2009 Freedom of Expression Awards. The awards, presented in association with the Economist, the Guardian, Bindmans and the Robert Gavron Trust, honour those who have furthered the cause of...
Azerbaijani satirist and government critic Sakit Zakhidov, known by his pen name, Mirza Sakit, was brutally beaten in jail on 18 October, local media activists have told Index on Censorship. Sakit was jailed in June 2008 for allegedly carrying...
President Aliyev’s tight grip on the press has severely damaged his country’s democracy, writes Vugar Gojayev Freedom of expression in Azerbaijan has been an increasing source of concern during the last four years, with a sharp rise in violent...
Journalist Agil Khalil of the opposition newspaper Azadlig had an attempt made on his life on 7 May, when someone tried to push him under an underground train. Later that day, two men grabbed him near the newspaper’s office. Khalil believes it was...
Agil Khalilov, a reporter for the Azerbaijani daily paper Azadlig, was beaten whilst filming an illegal land sale. The perpetrators of the attack --- allegedly including a local government representative and ministry official --- beat Khalilov...
A court in Baku, Azerbijan, has sentenced two journalists to hard labour following their conviction for libel. The charges related to articles they published in 2007 regarding alleged corruption in government circles. Avaz Zeynalli, the editor of...
What was initially billed as a celebration of the importance of religious and cultural tolerance and understanding turned into something a bit harder edged when the 56 nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) held a major conference in...