Filmmaker makes plea for Khadija Ismayilova's release
Liz Mermin, a friend of Khadija and documentary filmmaker visited Baku in 2012 to investigate the human rights abuse and political corruption. Mermin's trip took place just before the Eurovision Song Contest at the height of evictions and house demolitions.
Mermin's findings were made into a film: "Amazing Azerbaijan".
December 21, Washington Post featured a letter from an Azerbaijani Embassy staff - Mammad Talibov.
Talibov wrote "I am disappointed that the coverage of my country reflects neither its widely acknowledged successes nor the robust U.S.- Azerbaijan partnership [...] The case of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova is going through Azerbaijan's legal system. As recent events in the United States have shown, legal decisions are not always popular and, in some cases spart mass protests".
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) special report
Accordingt to CPJ's 2014 report, there are in total 220 journalists jailed around the world. The countries in favor of jailing their critics the most are China (44 journalists) and Iran (30 journalists), who are holding a third of journalists jailed globally says the report.
Azerbaijan and Turkey made the cut for the 10 worst jailers of journalists list.
"In Azerbaijan, authorities were jailing nine journalists, up one from the previous year. Amid a crackdown on traditional media, some activists took to social networking sites in an attempt to give the public an alternative to state media. CPJ's list does not include at least four activists imprisoned in Azerbaijan this year for creating and managing Facebook groups on which they and others posted a mix of commentary and news articles about human rights abuses and allegations of widespread corruption."
The Tel Aviv Journalists Association joins the worldwide protest in support of Khadija Ismayilova while the government of Israel remains indifferent
An article published by The Jerusalem Post yesterday December 18 strongly criticises the arrest of Khadija Ismayilova and the on-going crackdown by the "tyrannical government of President Ilham Aliyev".
The author, Yossi Melman writes that the Tel Aviv Journalists Association and its chairman Rotem Avrutsky join the on-going worldwide campaign calling for an immediate release of Khadija Ismayil.
"Her arrest is a grim confirmation of what rights groups call a ruthless campaign of repression against Azerbaijan's most independent and influential journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society activists" writes Melman.
"Unfortunately" concludes Melman, "it is unlikely the government of Israel, which has never been among those taking the lead to express concern about abuses of human rights, will comment about the case of Khadija Ismayilova" concludes the author.