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On March 19, 2026, a court in Baku, Azerbaijan, sentenced journalist Ahmad Mammadli to six years in prison on charges of hooliganism and causing serious bodily harm. The Committee to Protect Journalists immediately called the conviction highly dubious and demanded Mammadli's release, describing the charges as fabricated retaliation for his work at Yoldash Media — one of the last independent news outlets still operating in Azerbaijan amid a sweeping crackdown on press freedom.
What Mammadli Says Happened
Mammadli's account of the events leading to his arrest is harrowing. In May 2025, while traveling in a shared taxi on the outskirts of Baku, he says he was deliberately targeted by a police agent who ordered the driver to stop, dragged the journalist from the vehicle, and began beating him. Police arrived quickly, arrested Mammadli, and according to his defense testimony, planted a knife at the scene before cordoning off the area.
At the police station, officers allegedly beat Mammadli unconscious with a baseball bat, knocked out a tooth, and repeatedly electrocuted him to force him to provide his phone password and "desired answers." His fingerprints were reportedly not found on the knife, and no witnesses testified to seeing him stab anyone.
Given the way Azerbaijan has jailed dozens of journalists on trumped-up charges in recent years, Ahmad Mammadli's conviction seems highly dubious, and the police violence he is alleged to have suffered is utterly abhorrent. Azerbaijan should release him immediately and not contest his appeal.
Gulnoza Said, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
Azerbaijan's Accelerating War on the Press
Mammadli's arrest came on the same night as Ulviyya Ali, the most prominent journalist covering political trials in Azerbaijan — a coincidence that human rights observers say suggests coordinated crackdowns. His outlet, Yoldash Media, had been one of the final platforms providing independent coverage of political proceedings in the country.
In CPJ's latest global prison census, Azerbaijan ranked sixth-worst in the world for jailing journalists, with at least 24 reporters behind bars in retaliation for their work. The cases follow a consistent pattern: trumped-up criminal charges, allegations of police torture, and courts that rubber-stamp convictions without independent scrutiny.
Western Silence Under Scrutiny
CPJ specifically called on Europe and the United States to use their deepening economic and diplomatic ties with Azerbaijan to demand an end to journalist persecution. Azerbaijan supplies significant amounts of gas to Europe following the Russia sanctions — a leverage point that critics say Western governments have been reluctant to use on press freedom grounds.
What Our Experts Say
When a journalist is beaten unconscious, electrocuted, and convicted on planted evidence — and the world says nothing because the gas keeps flowing — we must ask what human rights standards actually mean. Azerbaijan's press crackdown deserves sanctions, not silence.
Senior Human Rights Expert, The Human Rights
Asylum Implications: Political dissidents, civil society activists, and independent journalists from Azerbaijan face persecution on the grounds of political opinion under Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The conditions described in this article are directly relevant to asylum and international protection claims. For comprehensive country evidence, see the Azerbaijan country report.
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