

Azerbaijan has strictly curtailed public movement as part of its efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The borders are closed, and citizens need to notify the police before they leave their homes.

It has been difficult for average Azerbaijanis to get used to the restrictions, which were implanted quickly. For dozens of journalists who have been banned from leaving the country for years, however, the new rules have come as a bittersweet reminder of how the government has limited their rights and liberties.

When the Azerbaijani government ordered people to stay home on April 5, 19-year-old Fatima Movlamli felt a pang of déjà vu.

“Thanks to the government, I became a double isolated one from the world after the coronavirus,” she says.

The citizen journalist learned she was banned from leaving the country in 2018, when she tried to travel to neighboring Georgia. Movlamli believes the restriction was put in place when she was detained for covering opposition protests, but she is not sure.

She is one of dozens of journalists and opposition politicians who have been banned from leaving the country. Lawyer Zibeyde Sadigova, who represents two journalists under the ban, Shahveled Chobanoglu and Anar Mammadov, says the restriction is illegal.