One of Azerbaijan’s biggest Internet service providers appears to be blocking access to RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service website, the media company says.
In a statement issued on April 13, RFE/RL says the blockage by Delta Telecom began on March 27 and is documented in an April 10 report by the nonprofit digital security services group Qurium.
The blockage affects Internet traffic to the websites of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service and independent media outlets Meydan TV and Azadliq newspaper.
RFE/RL President Thomas Kent condemned the interference as a “flagrant abuse of power by Azerbaijani authorities to obstruct RFE/RL’s mission to provide independent information and reporting to audiences in Azerbaijan.”
The latest blockage follows the publication of investigations by the Azerbaijani Service, in cooperation with the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, on financial activities linked to members of President Ilham Aliyev’s family and inner circle.
