RSF condemns placement of jailed journalist Ulvi Hasanli in a punishment cell

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the placement of Ulvi Hasanli, the jailed director of Abzas Media, in a punishment cell ("kars") once again on November 2 at Penitentiary Institution No. 10. The organisation said the journalist has heart problems and that the pressure on him puts his health at risk.

In its statement, RSF stressed that the management of Penitentiary Institution No. 10 had repeatedly threatened Ulvi Hasanli: "Despite his heart problems, Abzas Media journalist Ulvi Hasanli was once again placed in a punishment cell on November 2. Before that, the prison management had repeatedly threatened him in response to articles published by the media outlet he works for. RSF condemns these serious acts of intimidation that endanger his health."

Ulvi Hasanli is reported to have held a two-day hunger strike in the punishment cell. The journalist links the pressure on him to articles published by Abzas Media about problems and alleged illegalities at Penitentiary Institution No. 10. According to him, the institution's management is staging provocations against him and turning other inmates against him in order to have those articles removed from the website and to stop new materials from being published. Another inmate from Ganja is also reported to have been placed in a punishment cell in connection with these events, although he had committed no unlawful act.

The journalist's wife, Rubaba Guliyeva, wrote on social media on November 3 that Ulvi Hasanli had been placed in a punishment cell the day before. According to her, a phone call with her husband had been scheduled for that day, but the journalist did not call. Guliyeva said: "They threaten the prisoners about whom articles concerning the management have been published and force them to tell Ulvi to have the articles removed from the website. If anything happens to Ulvi in Penitentiary Institution No. 10, the prison chief Emin Jafarov bears direct responsibility for it."

According to Guliyeva, during their last meeting on November 1, Ulvi Hasanli said that the deputy head of the institution, Kamran Shahsuvarov, had repeatedly threatened him and incited other prisoners against him. He also said that he is not given proper conditions for meetings with his child and is not allowed the video calls granted by law to all prisoners. Guliyeva said she had appealed to the Ombudsman's Office and the Penitentiary Service hotline and was told her complaint would be investigated.

Ulvi Hasanli was detained on November 20, 2023. Later, within the "Abzas Media case", the outlet's editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi, project coordinator Mahammad Kekalov, investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova, and Radio Liberty contributor and economist Farid Mehralizade were also arrested. They were charged with smuggling and various financial crimes.

Under a verdict handed down by the Baku Grave Crimes Court on June 20, 2025, Ulvi Hasanli, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Hafiz Babali and Farid Mehralizade were sentenced to 9 years in prison, Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova to 8 years, and Mahammad Kekalov to 7 years and 6 months. The appeal and cassation courts upheld the verdict. The convicted reject the charges and link their arrests to their professional work; international media and human rights organisations have described the arrests as part of a campaign of pressure on independent media in Azerbaijan.