Criticism of Azerbaijan’s repressive policy on background of journalist Khadija Ismayilova’s arrest is gaining momentum

"We are very concerned about the arrest and pre-trial detention of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova," said spokesperson for the United States Department of State Jen Psaki during the press - briefing. Her statement is published on the official website of the US State Department.

Psaki has also noted that the United States is increasingly concerned with the fact that Azerbaijan's actions do not meet its international obligations in the field of human rights. She called on the Azerbaijani Government to respect the universal rights of its citizens, allowing them to express their viewpoints freely.

In its turn, the British Minister for European issues David Lidington commented in his blog on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. "Last month I visited Azerbaijan, where there are still persecution of freedom of expression and media. Khadija Ismayilova’s case is the continuation of the systematic harassment of journalists," writes Lidington.

“The ongoing crackdown on free speech and human rights in Azerbaijan negates the millions the country's leadership has paid western PR firms to improve its international reputation,” the article published on the site of international journalists’ network “Global Voices Online” notes.

The article focuses on Aliyev’s corrupt policy, who is trying "to polish its international image" in every possible way.

“The lavish caviar-laced dinners and impromptu galas and exhibitions Baku holds for western delegates should not obscure the fact that Azerbaijan's repression of domestic dissent is reaching new heights. Oil and gas should not be reasons to coddle an odious regime,” notes the author of the article noting that Khadija Ismayilova will become the most prominent political prisoner in Azerbaijan in case she is put in jail.

“Ismayilova’s jailing may be the nail in the coffin for this small, mostly Muslim post-Soviet country’s civil society movement, which has been driven underground this year by a wave of repressive laws and arrests on spurious charges,” writes Buzzfeed news agency in an article about Khadija Ismayilova.

Rebecca Vincent, a human rights activist and former U.S. diplomat in Baku, told BuzzFeed News that Khadija had really taken on the work of everyone else. Now she’s in jail and there’s really nobody else. Most have been arrested, one is in hiding, several have fled, and the others have just shut down.

The international organization Human Rights Defenders “Front Line Defenders” has also published an article about the details of the arrest of Khadija Ismayilova. In its turn, the German newspaper “Tagesspiegel” writes that in addition to investigative journalism, Ismayilova was also collecting money for political prisoners and their families. Conditions in Azerbaijani prisons, according to her, remind the Stalin era: one prisoner, for example, was forced to distance himself from his organization, the other in order to get out of jail, had to lay flowers on the grave of the father of President Aliyev.

In general, this year the Aliyev regime has intensified repression. Almost all known critics of the Azerbaijani leadership including human rights activists, journalists, politicians, bloggers and youth activists are behind bars, reads the article. Many people, in order to avoid arrest, have left the country.