Farid Mehdralizade Honored with US National Press Club Award

Farid Mehdralizade

Journalist Farid Mehdralizade, currently serving a sentence in an Azerbaijani prison, is among 9 journalists awarded the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award 2025 by the US National Press Club. All these journalists were associated with the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and remain in prisons abroad after the agency's dissolution in early 2025.

"The Club's Board of Governors agreed that the award is intended both to pay tribute to the courage of journalists engaged in reporting in parts of the world often dangerous for journalists, and to draw attention to what it calls the failure of the United States government to protect reporters jailed for work that promoted US ideals of free expression," the National Press Club said in a statement.

The Aubuchon Award, named after the late National Press Club President John Aubuchon, is the organization's highest press freedom honor. It is presented annually to journalists both in the US and abroad who risk their lives and freedom in the pursuit of truth. In addition to Mehdralizade, eight other journalists were honored, including two from Myanmar, five from Vietnam, and Russian national Nika Novak, who was sentenced to four years in prison for confidential cooperation with a foreign organization.

"Their imprisonment should outrage anyone who believes in America’s commitment to freedom. These reporters promoted American values of transparency and free expression, yet they were left behind. Their abandonment is a stain on our nation’s reputation and a reminder of what happens when we retreat from defending press freedom," said National Press Club President Mike Balsamo.

Mehdralizade was arrested in connection with the Abzas Media case in June 2024. On June 20, 2025, a court sentenced journalists and employees of the Azerbaijani online publication Abzas Media to lengthy prison terms. The director of the publication Ulvi Hasanli, chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi, investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, and economist Farid Mehdralizade each received 9 years of imprisonment, Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova received 8 years each, and Mohammed Kekalov received 7 years. On September 9, the Appeals Court upheld the verdict.

Mehdralizade's wife, activist Nargiz Mukhtarova, has also been criminally charged. She is under police supervision, and her trial as a defendant in a large-scale case against "a number of local and foreign NGOs" is currently underway at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes.

It is worth noting that US Democratic Representative James McGovern, Co-Chair of the US House Human Rights Commission, wrote a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in late October, expressing concern about the criminal prosecution of Nargiz Mukhtarova and the continued imprisonment of Farid Mehdralizade.

"The charges against Nargiz are baseless and appear to be a continuation of pressure on her husband for his independent, Congress-funded journalistic work. I urge your government to drop the charges against Nargiz and release Farid so he can be reunited with his family. I am especially concerned about the impact of this situation on Farid and Nargiz's young daughter. She was born while her father was unjustly incarcerated, and now her mother also faces imprisonment. The prospect of a one-year-old child being left without both parents is unacceptable," the American Congressman's letter stated.