Reporters Without Borders includes Ilham Aliyev in its 2026 list of “press freedom predators”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its 2026 list of “press freedom predators” on 2 November, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Ilham Aliyev is included in the list’s political category.

The organisation profiled 33 “press freedom predators” who attacked journalists and freedom of information in 2026. RSF said those on the list are united by their hatred of press freedom: “Their methods differ, but their goal is the same: to silence independent media voices and trample on the right to news and information. The tools used to ensure silence are murder, imprisonment, blackmail, propaganda and troll armies.”

This year’s list is divided into five categories: political, security, legal, economic and social. RSF made this division based on the indicators of the World Press Freedom Index. Alongside Ilham Aliyev, the political category includes Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nicaragua’s leadership Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, Afghanistan’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Ugandan army commander Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The legal category includes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, while the economic category includes Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

RSF said the individuals and organisations on the list use different methods to silence journalism: physical violence, imprisonment, legal pressure, financial restrictions, disinformation and digital attacks. The organisation’s director general Thibaut Bruttin described the list as an ironic “awards” list showing the worst examples of attacks and violations against the press; he stressed that the list is subjective, but that it includes only individuals and bodies reported to have carried out targeted attacks on the media during the year.

According to RSF, the list complements the World Press Freedom Index: while the index assesses the state of press freedom in countries, the “press freedom predators” list highlights the actors responsible for restricting that freedom.

Ilham Aliyev’s name was also on RSF’s 34-name list announced in November 2025. Since November 2023, more than 30 journalists and public activists have been arrested in groups in Azerbaijan on smuggling charges; they reject the charges, attributing them to their professional work and a political order. The charges against many of them were later aggravated. According to lists compiled by local human rights organisations, there are 322 political prisoners in Azerbaijan’s prisons.

Officials, as a rule, say that no one in the country is arrested for their professional activity or on political grounds, and that those named on these lists have been held responsible for acts they committed. International human rights bodies, however, call on the authorities to stop the persecution of free voices and to release those unjustly detained.