Nargiz Absalamova
COP29: RSF demands immediate release of imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan
The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Baku, Azerbaijan, a resource-rich country notorious for its violent crackdown on free and independent press. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging the international community to pressure Azerbaijan to release imprisoned journalists and end the severe violations of their rights.
Access restrictions, physical violence, arrests: in Azerbaijan, a petro-state that derives over 90% of its revenue from oil and gas exports, journalists covering sensitive issues such as the environment are working in a highly dangerous environment. Over the past year, authorities have arrested around fifteen journalists due to their work. Among the thirteen media professionals currently in detention, Nargiz Absalamova was investigating environmental issues.
“Setting an example in the protection of journalism, particularly environmental journalism, should be a prerequisite for hosting a UN climate conference. How can we accept that a petro-state that imprisons independent journalists is the host of negotiations that will determine the future of global climate? RSF calls on the international community to demand that Azerbaijani authorities release the imprisoned journalists, end the flagrant violations of press freedom, and commit to protecting independent journalism.
Jeanne Cavelier
Head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia office
Covering the disastrous environmental, health, and climate consequences of oil and mining extraction in Azerbaijan is particularly difficult and dangerous for journalists. Detained since November 30, 2023, on false charges of “foreign currency smuggling,” Nargiz Absalamova was working for Abzas Media, one of the few remaining independent media outlets in the country. In June 2023, she reported on protests by residents of Söyüdlü, a village in western Azerbaijan affected by toxic waste from an open-pit gold mine. They were protesting against a new artificial lake project intended to collect cyanide- and arsenic-contaminated runoff from mining operations. Police brutally dispersed the peaceful crowd and violently expelled three journalists, including Nargiz Absalamova. Her colleague Elmaddin Shamilzade was later harassed, tortured, and threatened with sexual violence in an attempt to force him to reveal his phone’s access code and delete photos from the protest.
To date, Absalamova, along with four colleagues from Abzas Media and eight other independent journalists, including from Toplum TV, are enduring mistreatment or humiliating detention conditions in prison, as regularly reported by Abzas Media’s editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgizi, her fellow detainee at the Kurdakhani detention center. Absalamova, facing up to 12 years in prison, is being denied visits from her family.
According to a recent global analysis published by RSF, two-thirds of the world’s oil is extracted in countries where press freedom is severely threatened. A textbook case of an extractive state where environmental journalism is harshly repressed, Azerbaijan ranks among the worst countries for press freedom, coming in at 164th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
Politics
-
"A group of hydrologists and engineers from Azerbaijan and Armenia, with our active support, is working together on a comprehensive water management scheme for transboundary rivers," the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mark Libby, wrote on the U.S. Embassy's social media account on November 12.
-
As the Biden administration draws to a close, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed on an emergency trip to Brussels to discuss how to support Ukraine with European allies.
-
The Prosecutor's Office is investigating the deaths of two people during the recent floods in Baku, Baku Mayor Eldar Azizov said commenting on the consequences of the flooding of tunnels in the capital during the heavy rains on October 22 to journalists. According to him, the sewer system could not handle the large volume of floodwater, which led to the drowning of two people in a tunnel in the Sabunchu district of Baku. The floods revealed vulnerabilities in Baku's water infrastructure.
-
The United States is ready to assist all countries, including Azerbaijan, in the transition to renewable energy sources, the U.S. National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said at a briefing at COP29, in response to a question from Turan about how the U.S. could support Azerbaijan in moving from oil and gas to clean energy.
Leave a review