Hands off press freedom in Azerbaijan

 The IFJ/EFJ campaign to release 7 imprisoned journalists and raise attention on Azerbaijan crackdown on press freedom ahead of the Eurolympic Games in Baku in June contributed to shed light on the poor record on press freedom in the country which is one of the leading jailers of journalists in Europe and Central Asia. Activities included a hashtag campaign using #baku2015 #realbaku2015 to alert on the cases of the 7 imprisoned journalists, letters sent by IFJ and its affiliates to the Azeri president asking for the journalists’ release and the publication of safety guidelines ahead of the Games for journalists reporting on sports and other issues. In a positive development , journalist and activist Emin Huseynov who was in hiding in the Swiss embassy was evacuated out of the country to Switzerland on 12 June. To date, other journalists remain in jail. More about the campaign: http://www.ifj.org/campaigns/hands-off-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan/