AGL 37.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-1.05%)
AIRLINK 129.26 Increased By ▲ 4.19 (3.35%)
BOP 7.49 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (9.34%)
CNERGY 4.64 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (4.27%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.54 (6.83%)
DFML 38.50 Increased By ▲ 1.16 (3.11%)
DGKC 81.00 Increased By ▲ 3.23 (4.15%)
FCCL 32.70 Increased By ▲ 2.12 (6.93%)
FFBL 74.27 Increased By ▲ 5.41 (7.86%)
FFL 12.40 Increased By ▲ 0.54 (4.55%)
HUBC 109.54 Increased By ▲ 5.04 (4.82%)
HUMNL 13.95 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (3.41%)
KEL 5.04 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (8.39%)
KOSM 7.48 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (4.32%)
MLCF 38.25 Increased By ▲ 1.81 (4.97%)
NBP 72.48 Increased By ▲ 6.56 (9.95%)
OGDC 187.40 Increased By ▲ 7.87 (4.38%)
PAEL 25.32 Increased By ▲ 0.89 (3.64%)
PIBTL 7.36 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.94%)
PPL 150.51 Increased By ▲ 6.81 (4.74%)
PRL 25.15 Increased By ▲ 0.83 (3.41%)
PTC 17.10 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (4.27%)
SEARL 82.49 Increased By ▲ 3.92 (4.99%)
TELE 7.57 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (4.85%)
TOMCL 32.84 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (2.72%)
TPLP 8.50 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (4.55%)
TREET 16.50 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (2.29%)
TRG 56.45 Increased By ▲ 1.79 (3.27%)
UNITY 28.20 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (2.55%)
WTL 1.34 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.88%)
BR100 10,530 Increased By 440.7 (4.37%)
BR30 30,982 Increased By 1473.6 (4.99%)
KSE100 98,199 Increased By 3624.8 (3.83%)
KSE30 30,616 Increased By 1171.2 (3.98%)

Azerbaijan has frozen the bank accounts of the country's only independent news agency, its director said Friday, in a step that could shutter the outlet. The Turan agency is a rare voice of dissent in the tightly-controlled Caspian Sea nation and has not shied away from critical reporting of the government of strongman leader Ilham Aliyev. Turan's director Mehman Aliyev said the move was part of a criminal probe into an alleged $22,000 (19,000 euros) in unpaid taxes, a charge he said was false. "Our bank accounts have been frozen and Turan risks closure at any moment," Aliyev told AFP.
Human Rights Watch denounced the case as the "latest in a vicious crackdown on critical media" in energy-rich Azerbaijan. "Using bogus tax-related charges to jail critical journalists is nothing new for Azerbaijan," said Giorgi Gogia, the rights watchdog's director for South Caucasus.

Comments

Comments are closed.