Led by president Ilham Aliyev since 2003, ex-Soviet Azerbaijan has long been accused by rights groups of stifling opposition media and independent journalism. (EPA Images pic) BAKU: An Azerbaijani court on Monday jailed a group of independent journalists and NGO workers on charges of "smuggling", in what press advocates called a political case designed to stifle their work.Mushfig Jabbar, Farid Ismayilov and Elmir Abbasov, employees of the Toplum TV media outlet, were arrested in March 2024 during a police raid on their outlet's Baku offices.Four NGO workers and a pro-democracy activist linked to the news outlet were arrested on the same day, while Toplum TV's founder Alasgar Mammadli was arrested two days later.All of the nine rejected the charges as politically motivated.They were sentenced to between 12 and 15 years prison by a court in Baku on Monday, according to an AFP reporter in the courtroom.Azerbaijan has arrested dozens of media workers since 2023, accusing them of a litany of crimes including money laundering and tax evasion.Toplum TV, one of Azerbaijan's most prominent independent media outlets, had published investigations into alleged corruption among government officials as well as the family of the country's state security chief.The European Federation of Journalists described Monday's sentencing as "extremely harsh" and called for the defendants' immediate release."The court's verdict confirms the political nature of the trial and the authorities' desire to intimidate and repress journalists who are simply doing their job," it said.Led by president Ilham Aliyev since 2003, ex-Soviet Azerbaijan has long been accused by rights groups of stifling opposition media and independent journalism.The Caucasus country last year ranked sixth in the world by number of journalists jailed, behind Belarus, Russia, Israel, Myanmar and China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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