In the last month alone, three prison sentences have been handed down to journalists. At present, there are five journalists in prison.

Over the past 24 months, two journalists, Elmar Huseynov and Alim Kazimli, have been murdered. In April of this year, there was yet another attempt to murder a journalist, Uzeir Jafarov. Jafarov's attackers remain at large, as do the perpetrators of the murders of Huseynov and Kazimi.

The IPI membership believes that the Azerbaijani government's failure to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press is not only a threat to journalists, but also a violation of the country's human rights obligations.

Therefore, IPI membership calls on the Azerbaijani government to immediately release all imprisoned journalists; decriminalize defamation and eliminate insult laws; and end impunity for all murders and attacks on journalists.

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