BAKU -- Azerbaijani authorities have arrested the eighth journalist since November amid what rights activists says is a crackdown on independent media.
Journalist Samo Eminov, who contributed to the Kanal 13 independent online television channel, was detained on December 22 on charges of alleged smuggling that supporters dismiss as trumped up.
His wife, Durdana Eminova, told RFE/RL on December 28 that a court in Baku had sent her husband to pretrial detention two days earlier for at least three months.
Eminov is among other journalists who worked for Kanal 13 to have been arrested in recent weeks. An editor of the television channel, Teymur Karimov, was arrested on December 12 on extortion charges that he and his supporters deny.
On December 2, police in Baku detained Kanal 13 presenter Rufat Muradli, who later was handed a 30-day jail term on charges of minor hooliganism and disobeying police orders.
Another editor of Kanal 13, Aziz Orucev, was arrested in late November on a charge of illegal property construction. He was later additionally charged with smuggling.
In late November, four journalists and editors of the Abzas Media independent investigative website -- Ulvi Hasanli, Sevinc Vaqifqizi, Mahammad Kekalov, and Nargiz Absalamova -- were arrested after police claimed they found 40,000 euros ($44,277) in cash in the offices of Abzas Media.
The four journalists were then charged with illegally smuggling foreign currency.
The journalists insist the case against them is trumped up in retaliation for reports about corruption among officials.
Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders have demanded Azerbaijani authorities immediately release the journalists and drop all charges against them.
Last month, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S., French, and German envoys to protest what it called "illegal financial operations" by organizations located in the three countries in support of Abzas Media.
Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over from his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.