In Baku, police detains supporters of journalist Khadidja Ismailova

The Baku police have prevented a protest action of women-journalists demanding to stop blackmailing and interfering into the privacy of their colleague Khadidja Ismailova, an employee of the Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty. All the participants of the action and the journalists who covered it were detained by the police. However, three hours later, all the detainees were released, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The action was organized by the group in the Facebook "Let's support Khadidja!" after a new footage of her private life was posted on the Internet; the action was appointed at 6:00 p.m. on August 2.

Ekhsan Zakhidov, the deputy head of the press service of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the journalists were detained because the action was not coordinated with the city authorities.

Khadidja Ismailova is the author of a number of journalistic investigations into the facts of corruption in the higher echelons of the Azerbaijani authorities. In March 2012, she became a victim of a blackmailing campaign: a video regarding her private life was posted on the Internet.

Let us remind you that the inquiry conducted by Ismailova herself revealed that the additional wires for secret surveillance and tapping in her rented apartment were installed in July 2011 under the order of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) of Azerbaijan.

The new blackmailing campaign against the journalist Khadidja Ismailova was condemned by the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), which has called on international organizations to investigate all the facts of moral and physical pressure on journalists in Azerbaijan.