Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The transition was marked by political turmoil and violence in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian area, where a war of independence broke out. In 1994 a ceasefire was signed in Nagorno-Karabakh but about one-seventh of Azerbaijan's territory remains occupied, while 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons are scattered around the country.

Azerbaijan is rich in oil and natural gas. In 1994 Azerbaijan signed an oil contract worth $7.4bn with a Western consortium. However, the economy as a whole has not benefited as much as it might have done. Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001. There are frequent accusations of corruption and election-rigging. The current President of Azerbaijan is İlham Aliyev. İlham Aliyev was elected President in 2003. He succeeded his father, Heydar Aliyev who became president in 1993 after the overthrow of Abülfaz Elçibay.

There are serious concerns over press freedoms in Azerbaijan. Press offences legally count as crimes and journalists cannot work freely without fear of imprisonment and the Azerbaijan authorities often use charges of libel as a weapon to silence journalists. Sanctions against opposition or independent journalists in Azerbaijan have become both more frequent and more serious. In May 2007 an independent United Nations human rights expert voiced concern about press freedoms and the European Parliament's human rights committee in August 2007 called the press freedom situation in the country "unacceptable." The regime frequently uses violence and threats against the media and the country came near the bottom of the 2006 worldwide Press Freedom Index drawn up by media rights group Reporters Without Borders.

In January 2007 Amnesty International released a report called "Azerbaijan: The contracting space for freedom of expression," which shows how journalists striving to expose the misuse of government power are increasingly living under the threat of politically motivated arrests, physical assault and even death. Their report reveals a pattern of encroachment on the rights of members of civil society, and in particular journalists, to freedom of expression. Amnesty International voiced concern that encroachments on the rights of journalists had increased, seemingly prompted by the prominent role of the free dissemination of information in the changes of regime in Georgia and Ukraine in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

Officers of the law have harassed writers and journalists and there have been many politically motivated arrests. In other cases unidentified actors have attacked journalists and although this has resulted in life-threatening injuries or even death, these incidents have not been thoroughly or independently investigated. There is a climate of impunity for harassment against journalists. Cases of criminal defamation have also been brought against outspoken journalists. All this has combined to have a massively squeeze the space left for freedom of expression in the country.

The authorities in Azerbaijan have reportedly used regulatory and license-granting powers to prevent the output of media outlets known for their relative objectivity and independence. E.g the forcible eviction of media outlets from their long-term premises or the withholding of broadcast frequencies on politically motivated legal grounds.

In December 2006, PEN issued an alert protesting the imprisonment of writer Rafiq Tagi, and editor Samir Sadagatoglu. The pair published an article entitled 'Europe and Us' comparing European and Islamic traditions in which it was suggested that Islam had hindered progress in the development of Muslim states such as Azerbaijan in a newspaper called Sanat. On 3 July 2007, the appeal court held up the charge of 'inciting religious hatred' and the convictions of three and four years in prison respectively. However, on 28 December 2007 Rafiq Tagi and Samir Sadagatoglu were among five journalists pardonned by the Azerbaijani President on 28 December 2007. They have since been released and Tagi reportedly told the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS) that he considered his period of imprisonment as a dream. The article for which he was imprisoned expressed, he insisted, "the philosophical position of the author. This is not a crime." 

Eynulla Fatullayev, the founder of two of the country's biggest daily papers, Gundalik Azerbaijan (in Azeri) and Realny Azerbaijan (in Russian), was sentenced to two and half years in prison in April 2007 for supposedly  insulting Azerbaijanis in an article which Fatullayev denies writing. He claims the charges have been manufactured in order to silence him. According to the media rights body, Reporters Without Borders, the editor of Gundalik Azerbaijan, Uzeyov Jafarov, was physically attacked just after he had testified in Fatullayev's defence and the two papers were forced to close in May by the authorities, who cited violations of fire safety regulations. On 3 June 2008, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court upheld the decision taken by the appellate court of 16 January 2008 that Fatullayev should continue to serve his eight and a half year sentence. Fatullayev was awarded Human Rights Watch's Hellman/Hammett Grant in 2007 for persevering with his work despite being subject to political persecution.

A ten-year sentence was passed on 24 June 2008  at a closed trial against Novruzali Mamedov, editor of the Talysh minority language newspaper and head of the Talysh Cultural Centre, who was charged with treason. There are concerns that the trial fell foul of international human rights standards, including denial of access to his defence lawyer, leading to concerns that the charges against him may have been fabricated.