Azerbaijani journalist and chief editor of Azel.Tv, Afgan Sadygov, was arrested near his home in Tbilisi. His family is sharing this information.
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In a video published by the journalist's wife, Sevinch Sadigova, on the social network Facebook, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia can be seen putting Afgan Sadygov in a car and taking him away. They did not tell the detainee's wife and children why they arrested the journalist. Sevinch Sadigova claims this happened on the orders of Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet explained the basis for the Azerbaijani journalist's arrest.
About two weeks ago, Afgan Sadigov attempted to travel to Turkey with his wife and daughters, but Georgian border guards prevented him from crossing the border at Tbilisi International Airport. According to Sadigov, he was told he could only return to Azerbaijan.
"Dictator Ilham Aliyev and the Georgian authorities, who carry out his repressive, political orders, are directly responsible for any incident that happens to me in Georgia," the journalist wrote on Facebook.
Afgan Sadygov has been living in Georgia since December 24, 2023. He says he came for treatment, but due to threats against him and the start of a new wave of arrests of Azerbaijani journalists, he never returned to his homeland. The Sadigovs did not feel safe in Georgia, which is why they wanted to leave the country.
The authorities of Azerbaijan arrested Afgan Sadigov in May 2020 on charges of extortion. In November of the same year, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Sadigov denied the accusation and announced a hunger strike in prison as a protest. Local human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner. Sadygov was one of the convicts pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev at the end of May 2022.
After the incident at Tbilisi Airport, the journalist stated that there is currently no criminal case against him in Azerbaijan, but as soon as he returns there, he will be arrested like other critical journalists.
