Azerbaijan Jails Investigative Journalist Khadija Ismayilova For 7.5 Years (TWEETS)

A court in Azerbaijani capital Baku has sentenced prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to seven-and-a-half years in prison for several financial crimes.

The Court of Grave Crimes in Baku on Tuesday found Ismayilova, an award-winning journalist known for exposing official corruption, guilty of embezzlement and tax evasion, according to Trend News Agency.

"Khadija won't stop. Her mouth won't close. Her pen won't dry up. She will continue to talk and continue to write. She is a fighter. And she is very strong. And she is telling everyone to stay strong and continue the fight," Ismayilova's mother Elmira Ismayilova told reporters shortly after the verdict, according to RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.

Thirty-nine-year-old Ismayilova, a popular Azeri journalist working with U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, did several investigative reportages for RFE/RL on government corruption.

She extensively reported on the financial dealings of President IIham Aliyey and has revealed details about businesses and offshore bank accounts allegedly linked to his family members, BBC News reported.

The U.S. said Tuesday that it is deeply troubled by Ismayilova's sentencing.

"The United States is deeply troubled by today's decision of an Azerbaijani court to sentence prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to seven and a half years in prison. We are further concerned by reports of irregularities during the investigation and trial, including the apparent exclusion of witness testimony and other key evidence," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the verdict and called her trial "a farce."

"Khadija Ismayilova's trial has been a farce, yet the consequences for her, and for all Azerbaijani journalists, are gravely serious," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said in a statement.

"We call on authorities to overturn this verdict on appeal and for Baku's international partners to stop turning a blind eye to the country's human rights abuses," said Ognianova.

The #FreeKhadija hashtag has been trending on social media.

Tags

Baku, United States, Europe