Arrested journalist Ulviyah Ali awarded international award

The international organization Free Press Unlimited has awarded the "Free Press Award" to journalist Ulviya Ali, arrested in Baku, in the "Most Resilient Journalist" category.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 9, it was announced that Ulviya Ali (Guliyeva) has been nominated for the 2025 Free Press Awards by the international organization Free Press Unlimited. She was included in the list of finalists in the "Most Resilient Journalist" category.

Ulviya Ali (Guliyeva) has won the 2025 Free Press Awards in the "Most Resilient Journalist" category, Meydan TV reports on its website.

The award was given to the journalist "for her resilience and perseverance, despite the difficulties she faced in her journalistic work," the publication states.

She paid particular attention to topics of political repression.

"She "The award focused on topics such as political repression, the situation of marginalized groups, youth attitudes toward state institutions, and the challenges women face in the workplace," the publication quoted the award's organizing committee as saying.

Free Press Unlimited noted that Ulviya Ali was also honored for continuing to produce journalistic material from the Baku pretrial detention center despite being held there.

Another winner of the award was Sudanese journalist Al-Migdad Hassan, who was awarded the "New Journalist of the Year" award, the publication writes.

13:05 23.12.2025

Serial Arrests of Journalists in Azerbaijan

Since November 2023, Azerbaijan has seen a series of arrests of independent media journalists, with several criminal cases opened following a similar pattern. The "Caucasian Knot" report details the events that led to the new wave of repression against the independent press.

As a reminder, Ulviya Ali was questioned as a witness in the Meydan TV case in January 2025, after which she was banned from leaving Azerbaijan. In May, she was detained and arrested as a defendant in the Meydan TV case. She denied the smuggling charge and stated that she does not collaborate with the outlet.

The Meydan TV case was opened in December 2024, when six journalists were detained and later arrested on charges of currency smuggling. They linked the criminal case to their professional activities. By August 2025, 11 people had been arrested in the Meydan TV case. At the end of August, it was announced that the investigation had been completed, and a 12th suspect, photojournalist Ahmed Mukhtar, had emerged. The arrested journalists were also charged with seven more criminal offenses. Shamshad Aga, one of the defendants, stated earlier that those arrested in the Meydan TV case were persecuted for their journalistic activities on the orders of the Azerbaijani leadership. "You have neither the authority nor the courage to make arbitrary decisions in any process controlled by [the country's president] Ilham Aliyev. In these processes, the investigator, the prosecutor, and the judge are Ilham Aliyev," he told the court.

Journalists from other media outlets, including Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and Kanal-13, have also been persecuted in Azerbaijan. On June 20, journalists and employees of Abzas Media were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7.5 to 9 years. In court, they denied the charges, emphasizing that they were being persecuted for their professional activities and for investigating corruption.

The number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan reached its highest point in 2024 since the country's 23-year membership in the Council of Europe, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Key Points on the Record Number of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan." At the same time, the Azerbaijani authorities deny the existence of political prisoners in the country.