Norwegian Helsinki Committee criticized adoption of new law on media by Ilham Aliyev

“It will be more difficult to be a reporter or a social media activist after the adoption of the new law on media by the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.” Norwegian Helsinki Committee announced.

It was mentioned that the new law will impose a number of restrictions on the already tightly controlled media in Azerbaijan.

The organization stressed that in Azerbaijan, the independent and critical media is often censored and closed, the reporters and social media users are being tracked and arrested.

It was pointed out that many provisions of the new law will allow the government to restrict the coverage of events and will be used to prevent criticism on the leadership.

Besides that, there will be no need for the decision of the court to close this or that media.

“The international partners of Azerbaijan must speak out on how destructive these new restrictions will be in a country, where the authority is built by suppressing critical voices in the media”, the announcement says.