Rights defenders accuse Azeri authorities of cyber attacks on independent media

The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) has condemned Azerbaijani authorities for a series of cyber attacks on the accounts of independent mass media and oppositional leaders on the Facebook. On the eve of the upcoming presidential election, the country's leadership seeks to restrict the freedom of self-expression on the Internet, rights defenders have stated.

Attacks on public pages of independent online editions and profiles of oppositional leaders in the Facebook have occurred during the last month. On January 29, the "Meydan.TV" fell victim to one of the latest attacks – its official Facebook page was stolen by hacking the accounts of its administrators, says the February 2 statement of the IRFS.

The IRFS has drawn attention to the fact that within the last month similar attacks were undertaken against the Internet pages of the "Kanal-13 TV", as well as against the profiles of the oppositional leaders – Ali Kerimli, the Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), and Djamil Gasanli, the head of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).

In the opinion of Emin Guseinov, the IRFS Director, the authorities are seriously concerned about the criticism against them in social networks and are trying to take them under their control.

The IRFS has called to "put an end to systematic strengthening of the censorship on the Internet."

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