Silenced Voices: The Danger Facing Female Journalists in Azerbaijan

Amid Azerbaijan's increasing crackdown on civil society, a worrying trend of violence and intimidation against women journalists is taking shape. Families of those held in the AbzasMedia and Meydan TV affairs are raising concerns about accounts of physical abuse and sexual harassment in the country’s prisons, especially at the Lankaran Penitentiary Complex.

The transfer of well-known journalists Sevinc Vaqifqızı, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Qasımova from Baku to the Lankaran Penitentiary Complex has caused a lot of worry. Their parents say the facility’s leaders have created an atmosphere of fear. According to Ofeliya Maharramova, mother of Sevinc Vaqifqızı, there are stories of prisoners being dragged by their hair and hit in the warden’s office.

The journalists themselves have written about these conditions, noting that violence is often used for small rule breaking or just to shame prisoners. The AbzasMedia staff haven’t yet reported direct physical attacks on themselves, but their families think the lack of accountability means they are always in danger. Also, administrative issues like not being able to make video calls and limited contact with lawyers are used to cut these women off from their support.

The situation is even worse for journalists involved in the Meydan TV investigation. International human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the ECPMF, have pointed out the terrible stories of Aysel Umudova and Ulviyya (Ali) Guliyeva.

Letters secretly sent from detention centers tell of a frightening experience. Umudova said she was touched and sexually harassed by police officers when she was moved to Baku—an experience that has left her with long-lasting mental issues. Guliyeva also said she was threatened with rape and beatings to force her to give up her electronic device passwords. These stories suggest that sexual and gender-based violence has become a common way to silence and punish independent female voices in Azerbaijan.

The legal process used to detain these journalists is very predictable. Most are charged with smuggling or illegal business—charges that independent observers and international organizations say are made up and politically driven. By giving these women long prison sentences—some up to nine years—the Azerbaijani government is getting rid of the country’s remaining independent media.

The Council of Europe and other international partners have been asked to step in, saying that the Istanbul Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights are being broken. The fact that there are no independent investigations into these claims of torture and harassment just makes it seem like the legal system is being used as a political tool.

For the families of these journalists, the issue is both political and very personal. They say the government isn't giving them any information, and their appeals to the Ombudsman and other oversight groups are often ignored. Though human rights advocates around the world are speaking out, these women face confinement and the constant danger of violence every day.

As the Meydan TV and AbzasMedia trials go on, the international community has an important question to answer: how can we hold a government responsible when journalism is seen as a crime? Right now, the voices of Azerbaijan’s most courageous reporters are trapped behind prison walls, and their safety depends on a system that seems determined to break them.