{"id":184008,"date":"2017-04-28T16:06:55","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T14:04:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T10:04:16","slug":"azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n The following article was originally printed on
\n
\n RFE\/RL.
\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n ***\n<\/p>\n

\n In an escalation of a targeted campaign against RFE\/RL, Azerbaijan\u2019s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has filed an official complaint with a Baku court requesting that RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani website,
\n
\n azadliq.org
\n <\/a>
\n , be banned.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Sabail district court ruled on April 27 to convene on May 1 to begin a review of the ministry\u2019s complaint, which also seeks to ban the websites of the nongovernmental Azadliq newspaper (unrelated to\u00a0azadliq.org) and Meydan TV, and the Turan TV and Azerbaycan Saati TV channels.\n<\/p>\n

\n RFE\/RL President Thomas Kent called the ministry\u2019s action an attempt at \u201cblatant censorship that is intended to intimidate the independent press, and which shows nothing but contempt for basic rights and international conventions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The complaint filed with the court indicates that the
\n
\n website has been blocked
\n <\/a>
\n since March 27, subsequent to
\n
\n recent legislation
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0that tightens Internet restrictions and authorizes the Azerbaijani government, subject to judicial review, to ban sites for posting content deemed to promote violence, hatred, or extremism, violate privacy, or constitute slander. Independent monitors
\n
\n confirmed
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0in an April 10 report that
\n
\n Delta Telecom
\n <\/a>
\n , one of Azerbaijan\u2019s biggest Internet service providers, had used \u201cdedicated equipment\u201d to interfere with traffic to the Azerbaijani Service\u2019s
\n
\n website
\n <\/a>
\n .\n<\/p>\n

\n According to Azerbaijani legislation, a guilty judgement by the court against\u00a0azadliq.org\u00a0could be used as grounds to prosecute the website\u2019s correspondents. In 2014, authorities
\n
\n imprisoned
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0prominent investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova on
\n
\n charges
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0of encouraging an attempted suicide and financial crimes in a case that foreign governments and rights advocates condemned as politically motivated.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ismayilova\u2019s arrest came just weeks before Azerbaijani state agents
\n
\n raided and sealed
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0RFE\/RL\u2019s Baku bureau, forcing it to
\n
\n close
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0in May, 2015. RFE\/RL
\n
\n continues
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0to pursue legal remedies in this case.\n<\/p>\n

\n RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani Service is a major source of independent news for the country, actively publishing on
\n
\n Facebook
\n <\/a>
\n ,
\n
\n YouTube
\n <\/a>
\n ,
\n
\n Instagram
\n <\/a>
\n , and other digital platforms. It recently reported on the
\n
\n financial activities
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and members of his inner circle, and
\n
\n investigated
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0costs associated with the September 2016 referendum that extended the term of the presidency to seven years, and which created the post of Vice President, to which the president\u2019s wife was appointed in February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an escalation of a targeted campaign against RFE\/RL, Azerbaijan\u2019s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has filed an official complaint with a Baku court requesting that RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani website, azadliq.org, be banned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":83679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAzerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an escalation of a targeted campaign against RFE\/RL, Azerbaijan\u2019s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has filed an official complaint with a Baku court requesting that RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani website, azadliq.org, be banned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"user-manager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"user-manager\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a\"},\"headline\":\"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\\\/RL Website\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":389,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/32843.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/\",\"name\":\"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\\\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/32843.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/32843.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/32843.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/section\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\\\/RL Website\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"MEYDAN.TV\",\"description\":\"Meydan TV Az\u0259rbaycan\u0131n media m\u0259kan\u0131ndak\u0131 alternativ s\u0259sidir\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Meydan TV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/meydan-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/meydan-logo.svg\",\"width\":195,\"height\":46,\"caption\":\"Meydan TV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a\",\"name\":\"user-manager\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV","og_description":"In an escalation of a targeted campaign against RFE\/RL, Azerbaijan\u2019s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has filed an official complaint with a Baku court requesting that RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani website, azadliq.org, be banned.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/","og_site_name":"MEYDAN.TV","article_published_time":"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"user-manager","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/"},"author":{"name":"user-manager","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a"},"headline":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website","datePublished":"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/"},"wordCount":389,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/","name":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website - MEYDAN.TV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png","datePublished":"2017-04-28T16:06:55+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T10:04:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/32843.png","width":640,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-seeks-court-action-to-ban-rferl-website\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f","item":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/section\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Azerbaijan Seeks Court Action to Ban RFE\/RL Website"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/","name":"MEYDAN.TV","description":"Meydan TV Az\u0259rbaycan\u0131n media m\u0259kan\u0131ndak\u0131 alternativ s\u0259sidir","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization","name":"Meydan TV","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/meydan-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/meydan-logo.svg","width":195,"height":46,"caption":"Meydan TV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a","name":"user-manager"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215397,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184008\/revisions\/215397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}