Khadija Ismayilova, an Azerbaijani investigative reporter once jailed by the country’s regime, said Monday that she will join the hunger strike of her imprisoned countryman, the blogger Mehman Huseynov.

Ismayilova is also an editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), but her decision was made independently.

“This is a last resort,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “I have nothing else to sacrifice with other than my health … Stop me if you can!”

She went on to list several demands: 

1) That the Azerbaijani government drop all charges against five political prisoners who are about to complete their sentences;

2) That all journalists, bloggers, and activists for freedom of expression in the country be freed;

3) That Azerbaijan adopt a “zero political prisoners policy,” including a review of all political prisoners’ cases in cooperation with independent human rights activists.

Ismayilova’s strike was “not political,” she said. “It’s about freedom of speech.”

“We are concerned about Khadija’s safety,” said OCCRP’s editor and co-founder Drew Sullivan. “But we understand her principled position. We will always support our editors.”

Ismayilova won worldwide support for her critical reporting about her country’s government, which in 2016 earned her the title of the “world’s most famous dissident journalist” from US media outlet Foreign Policy. She was released after almost 18 months in prison in the wake of worldwide pressure.

In announcing her own hunger strike, Ismayilova told OCCRP that her 2016 release quieted global criticism of Azerbaijan’s human rights record without resolving the wider issue of political prisoners in the country.

“I want to remind the world that the issue is not solved and we still have ten journalists in jail, and two more awaiting verdicts,“ she said. “I feel guilty for stealing attention from other cases. My release comforted too many people while the problem remained as severe as it was before.”

Independent human rights organizations view Azerbaijan as one of the world’s most repressive countries, and its judicial system is not seen as independent of the powerful executive.

Ismayilova’s announcement in support of Huseynov followed news this week that his own hunger strike was beginning to affect his health.

Huseynov is an administrator of the Facebook page “Sancaq” (The Pin), which has attracted more than 335,000 followers for its posts about Azerbaijan’s social problems and the property holdings and other luxury trappings enjoyed by the nation’s government officials. He was arrested March 3, 2017, a day after publishing a video in which he asked fellow Azeris if they would name their spouses as their “second-in-command,” as President Ilham Aliyev did in naming his wife as the country’s vice president.

Huseynov had been slated for release this coming March, but last month, authorities filed fresh charges that could keep him in prison for another seven years.

As of Jan. 8, seven other protesters had joined Huseynov’s hunger strike.

occrp.org