Malahat Nasibova

In 2007 Nasibova’s husband Ilgar was arrested after criticizing the government in a letter, which exposed his treatment by police while reporting a protest at a local market. Ilgar’s intention in writing the letter was to elucidate the unfair treatment he and the protestors received, but he ended up being charged with slandering the very same officers. On December 6 he was sentenced to 90 days in prison, for insulting a public official, after being told on December 4 that the charges had been dropped.

Azerbaijan was supposed to cease some of its undemocratic behavior when it became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001, but they have not yet met the conditions and continue to kidnap and imprison people for political reasons. The Azerbaijan government has led Europe in the number of imprisoned journalists, and the Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) registered nine imprisoned journalists in 2007 and five in 2008. One of these, Novruzali Mammadov, died in prison in August 2011.

Malahat Nasibova (born March 6, 1969 in Nakhchivan City), is an Azerbaijani journalist and human rights activist who was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize in 2009 for her "courageous and unwavering struggle for a free and independent press." Risking her own safety, she reports on abuse of power, human rights violations and corruption in the isolated autonomous republic of Nakhchivan, which is part of Azerbaijan.