{"id":290904,"date":"2023-11-20T16:26:08","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T12:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/?p=290904"},"modified":"2023-11-20T16:26:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T12:26:11","slug":"the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/","title":{"rendered":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#8216;AbzasMedia&#8217;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police officers assembled outside the AbzasMedia office and initiated a search within the editorial department of the media establishment. Staff members shared these events on social media, indicating the removal of journalists from the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video footage released by AbzasMedia revealed police obstructing journalists from filming, forcibly removing them from the building housing the editorial office. This interference hindered the journalists&#8217; professional activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ulvi Hasanli, the director of AbzasMedia, has been untraceable since the morning of November 20. Later updates confirmed his presence at the Baku City Police Department. Zibeyda Sadygova, Hasanli&#8217;s lawyer, expressed concerns over the lack of information about his detention and vowed to investigate further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amid the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/article\/abzasmedianin-ofisinde-axtaris-aparilir\/\"> office search<\/a>, Sadygova disclosed the alleged discovery of 40,000 euros by the police during the five-hour operation. However, AbzasMedia promptly refuted this claim, asserting that the funds did not belong to them and were fabricated to impede their activities and incriminate Hasanli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Efforts to obtain details from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) regarding Hasanli&#8217;s detention by Meydan TV yielded no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AbzasMedia gained recent recognition for its investigative reports, particularly focusing on the President&#8217;s family business, officials connected to the President, ongoing construction activities in Karabakh, and related companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to these developments, the Defender Legal Center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/article\/ulvi-hesenlinin-evinde-axtaris-aparilir-ofisden-40-min-avro-tapilib\/\">issued a statement<\/a> denouncing the actions against Ulvi Hasanli and AbzasMedia as harassment, alleging violations against the right to freedom of expression, especially within the independent media landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Center criticized the Azerbaijani government&#8217;s actions, citing contradictions with established constitutional and international human rights obligations. They urged the government to cease politically motivated persecutions against Hasanli and AbzasMedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Efforts to clarify the reasons behind Hasanli&#8217;s detention from the Ministry of Internal Affairs remained unsuccessful. The ongoing situation raises concerns about press freedom and safety within investigative journalism in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police officers assembled outside the AbzasMedia office and initiated a &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#8216;AbzasMedia&#8217;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#more-290904\" aria-label=\"Read more about The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#8216;AbzasMedia&#8217;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":290827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80,37,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-en","category-news","category-politics","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#039;AbzasMedia&#039;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan - 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\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#039;AbzasMedia&#039;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Police officers assembled outside the AbzasMedia office and initiated a ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T12:26:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T12:26:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"631\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at 'AbzasMedia': a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan - 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\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at 'AbzasMedia': a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan - MEYDAN.TV","og_description":"Police officers assembled outside the AbzasMedia office and initiated a ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/","og_site_name":"MEYDAN.TV","article_published_time":"2023-11-20T12:26:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-20T12:26:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":631,"url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/"},"author":{"name":"alice","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1b55b5732fd34354bb11472dcc58e27f"},"headline":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#8216;AbzasMedia&#8217;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan","datePublished":"2023-11-20T12:26:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-20T12:26:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/"},"wordCount":318,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png","articleSection":["Featured","News","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/","name":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at 'AbzasMedia': a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan - MEYDAN.TV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png","datePublished":"2023-11-20T12:26:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-20T12:26:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot_1-29.png","width":1500,"height":631,"caption":"Police in front of Absaz Media office in Baku. Photo: Meydan TV"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/the-arrest-of-ulvi-hasanli-and-office-raids-at-abzasmedia-a-blow-to-press-freedom-in-azerbaijan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Ana s\u0259hif\u0259","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":"The arrest of Ulvi Hasanli and office raids at &#8216;AbzasMedia&#8217;: a blow to press freedom in Azerbaijan"}]},{"@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\/1b55b5732fd34354bb11472dcc58e27f","name":"alice"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290904","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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290905,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290904\/revisions\/290905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}