Journalist arrested in Baku goes on hunger strike

Shafag Agabalaeva, the editor-in-chief of the website "Bakupress.az" has gone on a hunger strike after her arrest within a drug dealing case. Her supporters have suggested that she was slandered for her publications about the sale of psychotropic drugs at pharmacies. Her website had written a lot about the problem of drug addiction, human rights defenders have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 2, 2019, the editor-in-chief of the "Bakupress.az" was detained in Baku on suspicion of drug dealing. She stated that she had been slandered.

Due to the diseases that Agabalaeva suffers from, a hunger strike is dangerous for her life, her son, Fuad Djafarli, wrote in her mother's Facebook page.

"The 'Bakupress' received many complaints via the e-mail; and many could not like the work of my mother in identifying negative phenomena," Mr Djafarli has added.

Judging by the website, Agabalaeva's arrest has no political motive, said Emin Guseinov, the Executive Director of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS). "However, this does not mean that the arrest cannot be an ordered one. Based on the materials of the website, we can state that Agabalaeva actively opposed drug addiction. Perhaps, as a result thereof, she began threatening someone's interests; and they decided to eliminate her," he has stated.