Kenyan Media Bodies Condemn Violence Against Journalists at Gachagua’s Homecoming
August 22, 2025
Kurdish Documentary Projects Honor Press Martyr Gulistan Tara and Chronicle Liberation History
August 22, 2025
August 22, 2025 – Azerbaijan –
In reaction to the increasing repression of independent media in Azerbaijan, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), alongside exiled Azerbaijani media organizations—Free Voices Collective, Meydan TV, Toplum TV, and Qazetci—has initiated a solidarity campaign entitled “Flood Them with Fans.” This symbolic postcard campaign honors imprisoned journalist Sevinj Vagifgizi, editor-in-chief of Abzas Media, who has been denied even the most basic comfort—a simple electric fan—despite the intense summer heat in Baku’s pretrial detention center. RSF and partners interpret this denial as a cruel punishment aimed at silencing her courageous reporting from behind bars.
Vagifgizi had requested a fan two months ago; although others were allowed in, hers was repeatedly refused by the prison director unless she agreed to delete her writings from prison. She refused.
The campaign urges international supporters to express solidarity by writing messages, which will be translated onto postcards adorned with a symbolic fan, and delivered directly to prisoners in the Baku facility. The gesture aims to affirm that “their voices cannot be silenced—even behind prison walls”—and to press Azerbaijan’s authorities to cease persecuting journalists and to restore fundamental human dignity.
RSF and its allies also call for broader actions: the immediate release of all jailed journalists, the dropping of politically motivated charges against them, and the guarantee of basic rights, including medical care and humane detention conditions. They demand an end to the systematic repression of independent outlets such as Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and Meydan TV.
This campaign spotlights a larger crackdown on dissent: at least 25 journalists are currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan under politically motivated charges. Many are affiliated with the targeted outlets. Vagifgizi and fellow detainees have staged hunger strikes to protest abusive conditions—responses that have been met with punitive measures including isolation, assault, and denial of hygiene and visitation rights.
The “Flood Them with Fans” campaign is both an act of compassion and resistance, a way to affirm solidarity, highlight injustice, and defy tactics of intimidation aimed at extinguishing press freedom in Azerbaijan.
Reference –
