Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova wins Anna Politkovskaya Award

The journalist Khadija Ismayilova, now under arrest in Azerbaijan, has won the Swedish National Press Club’s Freedom of Speech Award for 2015 named after Anna Politkovskaya.

The Award is given annually to journalists subjected to harassment and pressure in their professional activities. It was first presented in 2007, a year after the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Khadija Ismayilova has been awarded for "investigative journalism and extraordinary courage", says the press release of the Swedish National Press Club received by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Khadija Ismayilova has demonstrated great courage in exposing corruption at the highest level in Azerbaijan. She committed herself to great risks for revealing the truth, including the inquiry into business relations of the Azerbaijani ruling family with the company 'Telia Sonera'," said Bjorn Hager, the president of the Swedish National Press Club, as quoted by the above press release.

The arrest of Ismayilova is a violation of the freedom of the press and "a shameful step aimed at deterring journalists from exposing abuses of the ruling regime," said Bjorn Hager.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, 2014, Khadija Ismayilova, a staff member of the Azerbaijani office of "Radio Liberty", was summoned to the Baku City Prosecutor's Office, where she was detained. The journalist was charged with inciting her former colleague Tural Mustafaev to a suicide attempt, as well as with embezzlement on a large scale, illegal entrepreneurship, and abuse of office.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.