Human rights activists have called for the release of journalists arrested in Azerbaijan.

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On the occasion of International Women's Human Rights Day, the organization drew attention to the plight of nine journalists arrested in Azerbaijan and called for their release.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Elnara Gasimova, and Nargiz Absalamova were sentenced to prison terms in Azerbaijan in the Abzas Media case. Also under investigation and held in pretrial detention are those arrested in the Meydan TV case – Aynur Elgunesh, Aytaj Tapdyg, Aysel Umudova and Khayala Agayeva, Fatima Movlamli and Ulviya Ali. On September 9, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

On the eve of March 8, the global organization for the protection of the press drew attention to the plight of nine female journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan, including three correspondents from Meydan TV, an Azerbaijani media outlet based in Berlin.

"They have recently been subjected to physical and psychological violence, as well as gender-based and sexual threats while in custody. These abuses are not isolated cases - they are part of a gender-based strategy of repression aimed at humiliating, intimidating, and silencing those who conduct investigations and publish materials," the organization said in a statement.

While the world celebrates women's rights on March 8, women prisoners in Azerbaijani prisons are given roses. However, for journalists reporting from behind bars about threats of rape and sexist humiliation, this seems like a cruel irony, the human rights organization points out.

The violence reported by the Meydan TV journalists two weeks ago is part of a series of allegations documented in recent months. In a letter published in December 2025, Aysel Umudova reported that she was sexually harassed and mistreated during her arrest and transfer to the detention center a year earlier. In particular, she described "unwanted physical touching" by a police officer in a car, which left her with psychological trauma," the statement continued.

Journalist Ulviya Guliyeva (Ulviya Ali) also claims that on May 6, 2025, she was beaten and threatened with rape at a police station in an attempt to blackmail her into handing over passwords to her electronic devices, the human rights organization continues.

At the Lankaran Penitentiary Complex in southern Azerbaijan, where several female journalists from Abzas Media have been transferred, there is credible evidence that the director of the facility physically assaulted one of the inmates on January 24, 2026. Against this backdrop, the families fear for the safety of the imprisoned journalists, as there are serious suspicions of impunity within the penitentiary system, the international organization further noted in its statement.

"Nine women, aged between their mid-twenties and early fifties, are in Azerbaijani prisons for their work as journalists. “The silencing of female journalists has become a particular trend and a growing one in Azerbaijan amid ongoing pressure on the media,” Azerbaijani human rights activist Subhan Hasanov was quoted as saying in the statement.

In a society where patriarchal norms already limit women’s participation in public life, the use of sexist slander, sexual threats, and violence behind bars is directed not only against individuals, but also against the very idea that women have a place in investigative journalism, the authors of the statement believe.

Despite their imprisonment, some of these journalists, such as Sevinj Vagifgizi, continue to document the conditions and treatment of prisoners in Azerbaijan, turning their imprisonment into an act of professional resistance.

In their letter describing the February 18 incident, the journalists Meydan TV reported that Khayala Agayeva suffered visible injuries to her right hand and left wrist during the confrontation. Deputy Director of the pretrial detention center, Javid Gyulaliyev, allegedly raised his fist inches from Aytaj Tapdyg's face, threatening to hit her. "After looking the three women up and down with a lustful gaze, he allegedly said, 'My semen is everywhere,' which the journalists interpreted as a threat of rape."

Two days later, at a court hearing, the judge denied one of their lawyers access to CCTV footage that might have recorded the incident. "When detention becomes a space of sexual intimidation and domination, it becomes a weapon to silence those who inform the public." "The gendered nature of these abuses is not accidental - it is part of a deliberate strategy of humiliation and intimidation designed to strike at the heart of these journalists and send a chilling message to all women who want to investigate, report, and tell the truth," said Jeanne Cavalier, spokesperson for the global organization for the protection of the press.

The human rights organization called for the immediate and unconditional release of the nine female journalists held in Azerbaijan, the launch of an independent and transparent investigation into the alleged abuse, and the prosecution of all those responsible.

Azerbaijan is among European countries with a high rate of criminal prosecution of journalists. Of the 148 journalists held in prison at the end of 2025, 36 were in Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists stated on March 3.

Journalists from other media outlets, including Meydan TV, Toplum TV, and Kanal-13, have also been persecuted in Azerbaijan. Details are compiled by the "Caucasian Knot" in its report "Serial Arrests of Journalists in Azerbaijan".