Nargiz Absalamova
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
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Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who arrived in Baku today, held a press conference at the COP29 climate conference. When asked about the arrested climate activists and opposition figures in Azerbaijan, she stated that Germany advocates for the release of government critics and that she would raise this issue during her meeting with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister. She specifically mentioned the name of Professor Gubad Ibadoglu, a doctor from Dresden University.
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On November 21, climate activists held a series of protests at the COP29 climate conference in Baku. The main themes of the protests included nuclear weapons testing, animal killings, protection of rivers and water bodies, and environmental pollution.
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The General Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) adopted a resolution on Friday reaffirming its commitment to democratic reforms, regional stability, and European integration amidst escalating geopolitical tensions driven by Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine.
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Activist Nijat Ibrahim, who was detained in Baku pre-trial detention center-1, inflicted numerous wounds on himself on November 20 in protest against unjustified criminal prosecution, his wife Parvin Ibrahim told Turan. According to her, on November 21, her husband called her and informed her that the day before he had inflicted incised wounds on himself with a piece of mirror. In particular, he cut his throat and ears.
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