Farid Mehralizada, a journlalist for RFE/RL has marked five months in detention in Azerbaijan.
October 30 marked five months since unidentified men violently abducted Farid near a metro station in Baku, Azerbaijan. Farid is an economist and journalist for RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Radio Azadliq.
He is being held on baseless charges including “smuggling” and “money laundering,” and faces up to 12 years in prison. While in pre-trial detention, he missed the birth of his first child. His repeated requests to be moved to house arrest have been rejected.
Speaking on October 30, RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said: “We are deeply concerned by [Farid’s] continued imprisonment on false charges. We call for his immediate release so he can return home to his wife and newborn daughter.”
Farid’s RFE/RL colleagues commemorated his 30th birthday on November 22 by sending him birthday cards and letters of support. Supoprters can send letters using the digital form linked here. .
- On October 24, ahead of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Azerbaijani government’s repression of activists, journalists, and opposition leaders, including Farid.
- “They are trying to show the world that we care about climate. But they don’t want independent voices criticizing.” Farid’s wife Nargiz Mukhtarova speaks to the Washington Postabout her husband’s case.
- “Farid has a passion for revealing the truth to people.” Read Nargiz’s interview with Voice of America.
Three other RFE/RL journalists are unjustly imprisoned: Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk in Belarus; and Vladyslav Yesypenko in Russia-occupied Crimea. November 25 marked three years since Andrey was arrested by unidentified masked men while riding his bike near his home in Minsk. He is currently serving a six-year sentence in a Belarusian penal colony.
On November 21, recently freed RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva accepted the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) 2024 International Press Freedom Award at a ceremony in New York City.
Alsu was imprisoned by Russia in October 2023 on false charges and released in a historic prisoner exchange on August 1, 2024.
In her acceptance speech, Alsu spoke about the darkest moments of her nine-month ordeal in Russian prison, her imprisoned RFE/RL colleagues, and the importance of a free press.
“My story is an example of the price that can be paid for reporting the truth…but I personally won’t stop doing my job and I trust nobody here tonight will either,” Alsu said.
