Azerbaijan sentences exiled journalists to lengthy prison terms in absentia

January 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to stop targeting exiled journalists after a court sentenced U.S.-based journalist Sevinj Osmanqizi on January 14 to eight years in prison in absentia on charges of calling for mass unrest and the overthrow of the state. The ruling follows a seven-year sentence handed down to France-based journalist Ganimat Zahid on similar charges on December 23.

Both Azerbaijani journalists, who have political asylum in their respective countries, told CPJ they deny the charges and see them as retaliation for their journalism.

“Having crushed domestic independent reporting through mass arrests and sham trials, Azerbaijani authorities are now seeking to intimidate leading exiled journalists into silence,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Azerbaijan must stop this blatant transnational repression. European states and the U.S. must ensure that exiled journalists targeted by Azerbaijan receive their full protection.”

The journalists told CPJ that the only information they have received about the allegations against them is from brief announcements on Azerbaijan’s public broadcaster. 

Osmanqizi described the charges as “totally fabricated.” “This is something they use for critics, locally and overseas,” she said.

A former reporter for the BBC, Osmanqizi fled Azerbaijan in 2012 under government pressure for her work at the now-shuttered broadcaster ANS. Since 2019, she has run the YouTube channel Osmanqizi TV, which has over 400,000 subscribers and is one of Azerbaijan’s most popular outlets for current affairs analysis.

In 2019, CPJ reported how pro-government media threatened to release intimate photos of Osmanqizi unless she cease her reporting. In 2024, a prominent member of Azerbaijan’s parliament called her a “legitimate target” for “neutralization by any means.”

Zahid, who has lived in exile since 2011, is editor-in-chief of the opposition outlet Azadliq Gazeti, which has been blocked in Azerbaijan since 2017 and has frequently been a target of the authorities. He runs the popular Azerbaycan Saati YouTube channel, which has more than 400,000 subscribers and covers current affairs.

The rulings follow an unprecedented crackdown on civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan since late 2023, with at least 26 journalists and media workers currently behind bars. Over the past year, Azerbaijan has targeted dozens of exiled government critics with major criminal charges in absentia.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The status of the two journalists has been clarified to reflect that they each have political asylum.