The Azerbaijani authorities have introduced measures restricting NGO registration, and therefore the ability of NGOs to operate within the law, and access to international funds…[H]uman rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists have faced criminal investigations, raids and confiscation of their equipment, and finally arrest and imprisonment on trumped up charges…Award-winning Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova…was arrested…Khadija Ismayilova was investigating claims of links between President Ilham Aliyev’s family and a lucrative construction project in Baku…