A journalist was arrested in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, becoming at least the seventh Azerbaijani journalist jailed in the country since late November.
Police in the capital, Baku, detained investigative journalist Hafiz Babali at a train station on Wednesday and took him to his home in the nearby city of Sumgayit. There, police searched the journalist's home and confiscated his computer and cell phone before taking him to the Baku Police Department.
Babali, economics editor at independent news agency Turan, is one of at least seven journalists who have been arrested in Azerbaijan since late November. The arrests have sent shockwaves through the country's already beleaguered independent media industry, analysts say.
A government spokesperson said Babali was arrested in connection with criminal investigations into the investigative outlet Abzas Media, according to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. No specific charges were identified.
Abzas Media, known for its anti-corruption coverage, has seen four of its journalists jailed since November 20. They are being held in pre-trial detention for between three and four months on charges of conspiring to bring money into the country illegally.
Babali's lawyer said the journalist was detained on a similar charge of illegally smuggling foreign currency into the country, which he rejects, according to VOA's sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Babali will be held in pre-trial detention for three months.
Two journalists from the independent channel Kanal 13 have also been jailed in recent weeks.
Even for a country that Reporters Without Borders ranks 151 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom, the recent spate of arrests in Azerbaijan has disturbed press freedom advocates.
"By arresting widely respected investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, Azerbaijani authorities are only confirming that their real aim in targeting Abzas Media is to silence its uncompromising reporting on official corruption allegations," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
"Authorities in Azerbaijan should immediately release Babali along with all other unjustly jailed journalists and stop the ongoing wave of reprisals against the independent press," Said added in a prepared statement.
The Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to VOA's email requesting comment.
Investigators previously questioned Babali on November 28 over his collaborations with Abzas Media, according to the CPJ. His bank accounts were frozen at that time.
"What illegal act can the prosecution charge me with? I understand that we live in an environment, in a society under a government where any innocent person can be charged with even the most heinous of crimes and imprisoned by the puppet courts of this country. There are plenty of examples of this," Babali wrote in a December 5 Facebook post. "Have I cooperated with Abzas? Yes. I am a journalist. This is my job."
