Freedom House: Internet in Azerbaijan Partially Free

The international human rights organization Freedom House has published an annual report on the situation with the freedom of the Internet in the world. The situation is evaluated on a 100 point scale and Azerbaijan with 57 points is among the countries where the Internet is partially free.

Georgia and Armenia with 25 and 30 points are among the free countries and the rest of Azerbaijan's neighbors - Turkey (61), Russia (65) and Iran (87) - are among non-free countries.

The study's authors believe that the continued pressure on independent and opposition media, as well as arrests of online activists limit the space for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. Among journalists, commentators and ordinary Internet users, there is self-censorship.

Government pressure undermines the ability of Internet bloggers and activists to publish critical articles on the Internet. Self-censorship is widespread among social networking users who know that they may be brought criminal charges for speaking out on the Internet.

Rahim Hajiyev, editor of the opposition newspaper Azadlig, said the number of prisoners on the publication on the Internet and in social media discourages users from free expression.

Because of the difficulties created by the authorities for financing civil society projects, a number of Internet resources have been closed, including Mediaforum.az, Obyektiv TV, the newspaper Zerkalo / Ayna, sites of local NGOs and media that receive foreign funding. Earlier, the local office of Radio Liberty was closed.

Activists continue to use social media platforms to disseminate information and organize campaigns, although their influence is quite limited.

In April 2016 the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against an independent Internet television Meydan TV broadcasting from abroad on charges of illegal business activities, tax evasion and abuse of power. Fifteen people were involved in the investigation.

Mehman Huseynov, a well-known blogger, was detained on 29 November 2014, and was taken away his passport and identity card. Without the documents he cannot leave the country and earlier he was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Khalid Khanlarov, student and blogger, was arrested on 23 January 2016 for 25 days for resisting police. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs questioned him about the activities of social networks. Khanlarov controls the satirical page Ditdili on Facebook.

Hussein Azizoglu, a known blogger, was detained on 8 January 2016 and arrested for 15 days. On his page on Facebook Three Faces (Uch Uz) he distributed funny videos about the police. The video was deleted from his page.

Despite the pardon by the President in March 2016, many Internet activists remain in jail. Among them, there are Abdul Abilov, Araz Guliyev, Ilkin Rustamzadeh, Nijat Aliyev, and Rashad Ramazanov.

Rashid Hajili, director of the Media Rights Institute, said the Internet is largely controlled by the government. The Ministry of Communications requires that all the telecom companies should give access to their equipment to the State Security Service (formerly the Ministry of National Security). There are cases when telephone conversations and e-mail are controlled without a court order.

The website Islamazeri.az reported a cyber attack in November and December 2015, which coincided with the clashes in Nardaran. The site was subsequently blocked.

On February 1, 2016 the Cenub News website reported a cyber attack, making it inaccessible.

In December 2015, the Parliament of Azerbaijan reported a cyber attack on the website of the Parliament, accusing the Armenian hackers. The same thing took place on the sites of the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. -06D--