Click to expand Image Aytaj Ahmadova during a rally on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. © 2024 Aziz Karimov/Getty Images Azerbaijani authorities are refusing to allow a jailed journalist with a serious breathing disorder to see a specialist or to undergo diagnostic scans, her family and lawyer say, the latest sign of the deteriorating conditions for the country’s imprisoned journalists.Aytac Ahmadova, 32, who writes as Aytac Tapdig, is a reporter for the exiled outlet Meydan TV. She has been in pretrial detention at Kurdakhani Prison since December 6, 2024, when she was arrested with five Meydan TV colleagues in raids, days after Azerbaijan hosted the COP29 climate summit. She was initially charged with currency smuggling, and later other financial crimes. Her ongoing trial, alongside 11 other journalists and media workers, began in December 2025 and has no verdict date.Tapdig has a nasal condition and chronic breathing difficulties. A July 2026 letter from detention revealed that she had used 80 bottles of nasal spray and become dependent on them. The Penitentiary Service does not employ an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, she said. Her lawyer’s appeal to the Justice Ministry has gone unanswered, requests for relevant scans have been refused, and she has not received the results of earlier examinations. Under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), and consistently underscored by the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture by whom Azerbaijan is bound, prisoners are entitled to health care equivalent to that available to regular citizens. Withholding treatment can amount to ill-treatment. Following a February 18 hearing, Tapdig and two imprisoned colleagues were assaulted during a surprise cell raid. That month, open family visits at the facility were suspended. The Interior Ministry has imposed a travel ban on Tapdig's mother. In late June, Tapdig's telephone calls with friends were cut. Tapdig and her colleagues are facing disciplinary action after they shouted that journalism is not a crime during a May 1 court hearing.Tapdig is among 25 journalists Human Rights Watch has followed and documented since the current crackdown on media freedoms began in November 2023. Some have already been sentenced.Azerbaijani authorities should immediately provide Tapdig with appropriate medical care and disclose relevant information to her and her lawyer. They should investigate the February assault, drop all charges leveled against the journalists and release them. The European Union and the Council of Europe should publicly press Azerbaijani authorities on these cases.