Khadija Ismayilova, a journalist victim of political persecution

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Khadija Ismayilova v Azerbaijan (Application No 65286/13), Khadija Ismayilova v Azerbaijan no2 (Application No 30778/15) and Khadija Ismayilova v Azerbaijan no 3 (Application No 35283/14)

Briefed on: 30 May 2022

EIN Photo

This first case concerns violations, between 2012 and 2014, of the rights of the applicant, a renowned investigative journalist, to respect for private life and reputation as well as to freedom of expression (violations of Articles 8 and 10). In the context of the present case, the applicant, after having published and contributed to articles criticising the alleged involvement of the President’s daughters in various commercial ventures, was sent a letter threatening her with public humiliation if she did not stop her investigative reporting. When she refused, a video featuring scenes of a sexual nature involving the applicant and her then boyfriend, taken with a hidden camera secretly installed in her bedroom, was posted on the Internet. Around the same time, newspapers ran stories accusing her of anti-government bias and immoral behaviour.

The Court found that the authorities failed to investigate the acts committed against the applicant in connection with the threatening letter, the secret filming and dissemination of intimate videos by unidentified persons as well as the public disclosure of the personal information in the authorities’ report on the status of investigation. It also held that the threat of public humiliation and the acts resulting in the flagrant and unjustified invasion of her privacy were either linked to her journalistic activity or should have been treated as if they might have been so linked, and that the authorities were thus required to take positive measures to protect her journalistic freedom of expression.

Khadija Ismayilova was present in Strasbourg on 30 May 2022 to brief about her various cases.