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Azerbaijan is a nation of vast resources unfortunately those resources do not extend to freedom of speech. Every year numerous journalists and members of NGOs are persecuted this year president Aliyev is taking things even further.

Azerbaijan is a small Asian nation which achieved independence from Soviet Union in August of 1991. Sadly their early years as a nation were plagued by war, political corruption, internal strife,  and a horrifying human rights record.

Currently the president of Azerbaijan is Ilham Aliyev elected in 2003 after being appointed a presidential candidate by his father, former president Heydar Aliyev. Since his rise to power Aliyev has been clamping down on NGOs, human rights activists, dissidents, and journalists with brute force.

The current government of Azerbaijan frequently uses tactics such as civil suits and criminal prosecution to intimidate those who speak out against the oppressive regime. In 2005 Elmar Huseynov, a prominent newspaper editor, was murdered. The killer has never been found. Sadly numerous Azerbaijani journalists have suffered physical harm by unknown assailants.

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In 2007 nine Azerbaijani journalists were arrested, one of those men was Emin Huseynov the chairman of IRFS; an organization which fights to protect the rights of Azerbaijani journalists and provides legal assistance to those being persecuted by the government. Upon his arrest Emin Huseynov was beaten so severely that he was hospitalized for 24 days. he is still in the custody of Azerbaijani officials.

In 2009 Ilham Aliyev brought fourth amendments for the Azerbaijani constitution to the nation’s parliament, also called Milli Mejlis. These new rules will make life even harder for journalists and those working to improve human rights in Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani government would be able to close media outlets at will for “abuses of power” such as using anonymous sources or writing articles that could be considered biased. Non-Government Organizations would have to receive at least 50% of their funding locally, virtually crippling the ability of outside nations to monitor treatment of Azerbaijani nationals. Unfavorable NGOs can be banned for a period of up to five years and those speaking on their behalf can receive a fine of 50,000AZN or $62,500USD.

The people of Azerbaijan are suffering. They have endured years of brutal regimes, a horrific war with Nagorno-Karabakh, droughts and now they are losing their freedom of speech.