Police in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, detained about a dozen journalists from the online Toplum TV channel on March 6 after searching their offices, the detained journalists' relatives said, prompting the U.S. State Department to say it was "deeply troubled" by the reports.
Reports say police also detained several members of the Third Republic Platform opposition group, as well as two members of the NIDA civic movement.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that "operative measures" and searches had been conducted at the channel's offices and other addresses, saying it would provide additional information later.
Toplum TV's editor in chief is Khadija Ismayilova, a former bureau chief in Baku for RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service and one of the country's most renowned investigative journalists.
Ismayilova told journalists that no official explanation for the raids was given.
"It looks like [the authorities] want to fully liquidate independent media in the country to leave no platform for critical opinions," Ismayilova said.
"We have not been involved in any illegal activities. Therefore, there are no legal explanations for what is happening," she added, stressing that she is trying to find the whereabouts of her colleagues who were in the office during the search and never came out of the building.
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Azerbaijani Police Detain Journalists From Independent Toplum TV Without Explanation
At around 6 p.m. local time, police finished the search and sealed Toplum TV's offices shut.
Azerbaijani authorities have arrested journalists from the Kanal 13 television channel and Abzas Media independent website in recent months amid what rights activists says is a crackdown on independent media.
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.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on March 6 told a briefing that Washington was “deeply troubled” by Baku’s reported actions against the TV journalists. He called on Azerbaijan to cease harassment of citizens exercising their fundamental freedoms in the South Caucasus nation.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Reporters Without Borders have demanded that Azerbaijani authorities immediately release the journalists and drop all charges against them.
Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over from his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.