The U.S. National Press Club presented its highest press freedom prize to jailed Azeri investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova on July 29.
Ismayilova, who is a contributor to RFE/RL, has been held in pretrial detention in Baku for 234 days on charges many observers say were motivated by her investigations into high-level corruption involving Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
At a first hearing in Ismayilova's case on July 24, an Azerbaijani judge rejected motions to dismiss charges of tax evasion and embezzlement and grant Ismayilova house arrest as a substitute for pretrial detention. Ismayilova faces a possible prison sentence of 19 years.
“Khadija is in prison because of her journalism," said RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic, who accepted the award on Ismayilova’s behalf.
"This award is an acknowledgement of her courage and her convictions, but it is also a call to all of us here tonight to condemn her imprisonment and demand her freedom.”
Other jailed reporters receiving the club's John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award this year were Syrian correspondent Austin Tice and Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post's Tehran correspondent.
